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RECOLLECTIONS    OF    SERVICE    IN   THE 
ARMY   OF   THE    POTOMAC. 


BY 


A    DETACHED    VOLUNTEER 


IN    THE    REGULAR  ARTILLERY. 


AUGJttSTTJSv  BUELL. 

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CHICAGO, 

SOLD     BYXSUBSCR^TION     ONLY. 


WASHINGTON,  D.   C.: 
THE     NATIONAL     TRIBUNE. 

1890. 


Copyright  by 
THE  NATIONAL  TRIBUNE. 


ILLUSTRATIONS  AND   MAPS. 


Frontispiece  :    The  Battle  Leaders  of  the  Battery. 

PAGE. 

Gun  and  Detachment 21 

Plans  of  Battery  Camps 28 

Diagram  of  the  Antietam  Cornfield 40 

The  Battery  in  Winter  Quarters 50 

Diagram  of  the  Gettysburg  Railroad  Cut 67 

Final  Straggle  of  the  Left  Half-Battery 69 

General  Diagram  of  Gettysburg 86 

Group  of  Our  Cannoneers 127 

Diagram  of  Bethesda  Church 208 

Charge  of  Battery  B 211 

Appearance  of  the  Rebel  Battery 215 

Lieut.  Mitchell's  Return 224 

Diagram  of  the  Old  Lines  of  Petersburg 243 

Inspecting  Recruits  in  1864 258 

Welcoming  "De  Six'  Co'  " 270 

President  Lincoln  and  Capt.  McKnight 272 

Diagram  of  Cedar  Creek 284 

Attack  on  McKnight 's  Battery 289 

Diagram  of  Warren's  Operations 342 

Diagram  of  Five  Forks 350 

Gen.  Charles  Griffin 354 

Diagram  of  Appomattox 372-3 


M181952 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 
CHAPTER  I. 

Sketch  of  Regular  Artillery  —  Early  History  of  Battery  B— 
Buena  Vista  —  Utah  Expedition  —  Arrival  of  Battery  B  at 
Washington 11 

CHAPTER  II. 

Reorganization — The  Detached  Volunteers  —  The  "All  Quiet" 
Winter — Second  Bull  Run — South  Mountain — Antietam  — 
The  Bloody  Cornfield— Gallantry  of  Glen.  Gibbon  —  Terrific 
Slaughter  in  the  Battery  —  Infantry  and  Artillery  at  30 
Paces  —  Capt.  Campbell  Wounded  —  Stewart  Takes  Com 
mand —  Proportion  of  Killed  to  Wounded  —  McClellan's 
Wasted  Opportunity  —  Reflections  upon  Antietam 17 

CHAPTER  III. 

Fredericksburg  —  Sullen  Apathy  of  the  Troops  —  Useless  Devo 
tion  and  Hopeless  Courage  —  "Public  Opinion"  in  the 
Army  —  The  Author  Joins  —  Chancellorsville  —  Hooker's 
"Good  Planning  and  Poor  Fighting"  —  Splendid  Conduct 
of  Artillery — Seeley's  Battery — Stevens' s  Battery — Another 
Repulse — Wrath  of  the  Troops — Campfire  Festivities  —  The 
Author  Knocked  Out  — We  Prepare  for  Gettysburg 44 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Artillery  Reorganization  —  March  to  Gettysburg  —  We  Strike 
Free  Soil— First  Day's  Battle  — Cutler's  Brigade  Leads 
Off— The  Battery  at  the  Railroad  Cut— Terrific  Slugging  at 
Short  Range  —  Heroism  of  our  Infantry  Supports  —  Davison 
and  the  Left  Half-Battery  —  Stewart  Surrounded  and  Cuts 
His  Way  Out  — Falling  Back  to  the  Hill  — The  Second 
Day — Early 's  Charge  —  Sprigg  Carroll's  Counter-Charge  — 
The  Third  Day— Gulp's  Hill  — The  Colossal  Cannonade  — 
Pickett's  Charge 56 


CONTENTS.  5 

PAGE. 


CHAPTER  V. 


Review  of  Gettysburg  —  Strength  and  Losses  of  the  Armies  — 
Pursuit  of  Lee — Prospect  of  a  Second  Antietam  —  Savage 
Temper  of  the  Troops  —  Promotion  of  Mitchell  —  Several 
Weeks  of  Inaction  —  Lively  Times  in  Camp — Recollections 
of  the  Comrades.  101 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A  Specimen  Scout  —  Clerking  at  Headquarters  —  Courts- 
Martial—Mr.  Lincoln's  Clemency  —  Many  Convicted  but 
Few  Executed  —  Shooting  Deserters  —  Public  Sentiment 
Among  the  Troops  —  Reorganization  of  the  Army  —  The 
New  Fifth  Corps  —  Gen.  Warren  —  Gen.  Grant's  Views  — 
Crossing  the  Rapidan  —  Halt  in  the  Wilderness 133 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Battle  of  the  Wilderness — Rough-and-Tumble  in  the  Brush 

—  Bushwhacking  on  a  Grand  Scale  —  Crisis  of  the   Battle 

—  Gen.  Field's  Account — Advance  of  the  Army  —  Spottsyl- 
vania — Gen.  Sedgwick  Killed  —  Terrific  Assaults  —  Capture 
of  a  Whole  Rebel  Division  — Ten  Days  of  Solid  Battle  — 
Death  of  Lieut.  Goodman  —  Hard  Work  for  the  Artillery 

—  The  Author  "  Punished "  —  Reflections.    .  158 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

On  to  Richmond  —  Heavy  Skirmishing  at  North  Anna  —  Sharp 
Work  for  the  Batteries  —  Advance  to  Cold  Harbor  —  Be- 
thesda  Church  —  Charge  of  the  Battery — Terrific  Cannon 
Duel  at  Short  Range  —  Desperate  but  Futile  Assaults — Sick 
ening  Fate  of  the  Wounded — Discontent  of  the  Troops — 
Advance  on  Petersburg 200 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Siege  of  Petersburg  —  " Shovel  and   Shoot"  — Night   Firing 

—  Magnitude   of   the  Works  —  Engineer    Duty — Constant 
Extension  to  the  Left — Cutting    the  Weldon   Railroad  — 
Diversions   in  the  Trenches  —  Poker  —  A   Great    "Draw" 

—  Fine  Morale  of  the  Troops  —  Recruits  Coming  In  —  Boun 
tiful  Supplies 234 


Q  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 
CHAPTER  X. 

Detailed  at  Ordnance  Wharf — Attached  to  McKnight's  Bat 
tery  —  The  Sixth  Corps  Goes  to  Washington  —  Eelief  of  the 
Capital  —  Bid  well's  Brigade  Fights  a  Small  Battle  for  "Old 
Abe" —  Early  Driven  Away — March  to  the  Valley — Sheri 
dan  Takes  Command  —  Battle  of  Opequan  —  Fisher's  Hill  — 
Ront  of  Early's  Army 262 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Devastation  of  the  Valley — Sixth  Corps  Starts  for  Petershnrg 
—  Recalled  to  the  Front — Cedar  Creek  —  Advanced  Troops 
Surprised  and  Overwhelmed — The  Sixth  Corps  Takes  the 
Brunt — Desperate  Fighting  by  Getty's  Division  —  Free  Use 
of  the  Cold  Steel — The  Unconquerable  Vermonters — They 
Rescue  Battery  M — We  are  Complimented  by  Gen.  Lewis 
A.  Grant  — Total  Wreck  of  Early's  Army  —  Battlefield 
Amenities.  281 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Ordered  Back  to  Petersburg — A  Few  Days  in  Washington  — 
Call  on  Mr.  Lincoln  —  Return  to  the  Battery — More  "Soft 
Duty"  —  Back  to  the  Ordnance  Wharf  Again  —  Embark 
with  Reserve  Ammunition — Rough  Voyage — Fort  Fisher 
— Two  Days'  Bombardment — Tremendous  Fire  of  the  Fleet 

—  Landing  of  the  Troops  in  the  Surf— The  Fort  Taken  by 
Infantry  Assault — Desperate  Defense — The  Battle  in  the 
Fort  Itself— Landing  the  Siege  Guns— Return  to  the  Wharf 

—  A   Pleasant  Winter — Back  to  Division  Headquarters  — 
Preparations  for  the  Spring  Campaign 310 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

We  Start  for  Appomattox  —  Brilliant  Operations  of  the  Fifth 
Corps — Four  Victories  in  Fonr  Days — Mitchell  Wounded — 
Five  Forks — Charge  of  Griffin's  Division — Total  Destruction 
of  Pickett's  Force— Gen.  Warren  Relieved— The  Fifth  Corps 
Sympathizes  with  Him  —  Gen.  Griffin  Takes  Command — 
Pursuit  of  the  Rebel  Army — Jetersville — Ligonton — Prince 
Edward  Courthouse — Prospect  Station  —  Appomattox — We 
Head  Lee  Off— The  White  Flag— Incidents  of  the  Sur 
render.  335 


CONTENTS.  7 

PAGE. 


CHAPTEE  XIV. 


Lee's  Army  Disbanded— The  Army  of  the  Potomac  Starts  for 
Home — The  Author  Assigned  to  Duty  in  Richmond — Joins 
the  Twenty-fifth  Corps  —  Distribution  of  Rations  to  the 
Populace  of  Richmond  —  Arrival  of  Sherman's  Army  — 
Halleck's  Proposed  Review  Indefinitely  Postponed  —  The 
Twenty-fifth  Corps  Sails  for  Texas— Conclusion 369 

SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTER. 

Capt.  Stewart's  Memoir  of  Early  Service  in  the   Battery — 

Extracts  from  the  Journal  of  Serg't  Charles  A.  Santmyer.  .       389 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  volume  here  humbly  submitted  is  a  careful  revision  of  the  text  of 
a  sketch  sometime  ago  published  as  a  serial  in  THE  NATIONAL  TRIBUNE, 
of  Washington,  D.  C.  This  sketch  had  been  written  almost  entirely  from 
memory,  at  odd  spells,  during  a  busy  lifetime,  and  little  effort  was  made 
to  revise  or  "edit"  it  for  the  serial  publication.  The  result  was  much 
inaccuracy  of  statement,  ill-considered  criticism  and  reflections  upon  the 
conduct  of  co-operating  troops,  which,  however  faithfully  they  may  have 
represented  the  feeling  of  the  camp  and  battlefield  that  they  were  designed 
to  portray,  were  clearly  not  calculated  to  form  part  of  a  just  and  impartial 
history  in  the  light  of  evidence  attainable  in  calmer  days  and  under  peace 
ful  conditions.  The  Author  has  felt  a  due  sense  of  the  responsibility  in 
volved  in  the  publication  of  a  book,  historical  in  character,  no  matter  how 
unpretentious.  Hence,  so  far  as  might  be,  without  breaking  the  main 
thread  of  personal  narrative,  recourse  has  been  had  to  official  records  wher 
ever  it  seemed  necessary  to  verify  statements  or  correct  the  natural  and 
unavoidable  errors  or  lapses  of  memory.  It  is  also  to  be  remarked  that, 
during  the  publication  of  the  original  sketch,  which  ran  through  26  num 
bers  of  THE  NATIONAL  TRIBUNE,  the  vast  circulation  of  that  paper 
among  the  veterans,  and  the  kind  interest  of  the  comrades,  brought  out 
a  great  deal  of  correspondence  commenting  on,  criticizing,  correcting  and 
elaborating  the  text  of  the  sketch.  Some  of  this  correspondence  will  be 
found  incorporated  in  this  volume  at  appropriate  points.  It  has  all  been 
sedulously  preserved,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  there  is  or  ever  will  be  again 
such  a  collection  of  the  personal  reminiscences  of  soldiers  —  mainly  enlisted 
men — as  exists  in  the  2,000-odd  letters  called  out  by  the  original  sketch, 
embracing,  as  they  do,  recitals  of  individual  experience  in  nearly  every 
battle  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Almost  without  exception  these  let 
ters  are  from  men  who  are  now  the  yeomanry  of  our  land  ;  men  who  gave 
two,  three  or  four  years  of  their  young  manhood  to  the  defense  of  the 
Union,  and  who  have  since  taken  the  places  of  honor  and  importance  to 
which  their  virtues  and  talents  entitle  them  in  their  respective  communi 
ties.  The  limits  of  space  and  scope  of  this  work  prohibit  the  incorporation 
of  more  than  the  merest  fragments  of  this  rich  and  varied  correspondence. 
At  no  distant  day  it  is  probable  that  these  letters,  carefully  edited  and 
annotated,  will  be  given  to  the  public  in  a  volume. 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

Personally  the  Author  has  but  to  say  that  his  service  was  brief  and 
uneventful  compared  to  that  of  most  of  his  comrades.  Doubtless  his  expe 
rience  was,  on  the  whole,  much  less  harsh  and  trying  than  that  of  the 
average  private  soldier.  The  pictures  he  draws  of  his  company  officers 
and  his  comrades  are  by  no  means  softened  by  the  "half-tone  process  ot 
memory  and  long  ago,"  but  are  literally  true  to  the  life.  The  paternal 
care  and  kindness  of  Capt.  Stewart  and  the  brotherly  affection  and  solici 
tude  of  Lieut.  Mitchell  are  not  in  the  slightest  degree  idealized  or  exag 
gerated  ;  nor  is  one  excessive  word  or  phrase  offered  in  depicting  the 
soldierly  virtues  or  the  personal  excellences  of  the  comrades  in  the  rank's. 
Every  old  soldier  has  at  least  the  privilege  of  maintaining  that  his  com 
manders  were  the  bravest  and  most  skilful,  and  his  comrades  the  best  and 
dearest  that  the  army  afforded.  The  Author  claims  no  more  than  that 
privilege.  Those  of  us  who  survive  are  scattered  to  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth,  never  to  meet  again,  but  I  think  it  can  be  said  without  the  slightest 
hazard  that  no  man  or  boy  who  did  his  duty  in  Stewart's  Battery  has  any 
recollection  of  any  comrade  that  is  unpleasant  or  any  reminiscence  of  his 
service  that  he  does  not  love  to  tell.  The  name  of  the  Old  Battery  is 
blazoned  high  on  the  scroll  of  the  Union's  battle-fame.  Around  her  guidon 
staff  twine  the  triple  laurels  of  1812,  the  Mexican  War  and  the  Struggle 
for  the  Union.  The  glories  of  Plattsburg,  of  Monterey,  of  Buena  Vista, 
of  Antietam,  of  Gettysburg,  of  Spottsylvania,  of  Bethesda,  and  of  Appo- 
mattox  Courthouse  —  the  battle  legends  of  a  half  century  —  cluster  among 
her  "cross-cannons,"  imperishable  while  the  Old  Flag  waves. 

Col.  William  F.  Fox,  the  accepted  Statistician  of  the  Civil  War,  in 
answer  to  an  inquiry  recently  propounded  to  him  by  Comrade  R.  S.  Little- 
field,  of  Empire  City,  Oreg. ,  says  : 

The  "Cannoneer"  is  correct  in  claiming  for  his  Battery  the  greatest  aggre 
gate  losses  of  any  light  battery  in  the  service.  *  *  *  There  is  no  doubt  but 
that  more  men  fell  at  Stewart's  guns  than  in  any  other  battery  in  the  Union 
Armies. 

Capt.  Stewart,  in  a  letter  from  his  home  at  Carthage,  Ohio,  says : 

Realizing,  as  I  did,  the  distinguished  services  and  the  already  established 
fame  of  the  Battery,  I  often  wished  that  it  might  have  had  a  historian.  When 
I  finished  reading  your  concluding  article  I  felt  satisfied  that  Battery  B  had 
found  a  historian  worthy  of  its  history. 

But  I  also  feel  that  you  have  given  me  too  much  praise  personally.  Among 
other  things,  you  have  represented  me  as  a  man  destitute  of  fear.  Let  me  as 
sure  you,  my  dear  boy,  that  whatever  may  have  been  my  apparent  conduct  in 
action,  no  man  ever  went  under  fire  with  a  keener  sense  of  the  perils  and 
horrors  of  battle  than  I  did. 

But  it  was  my  fortune  to  be  placed  in  command  of  men  of  exceptional  pride 
and  bravery.  No  officer  having  a  spark  of  manhood  about  him  could  have 
helped  doing  well  at  the  head  of  such  men.  I  cannot  think  of  them  now, 
whether  they  are  living  or  dead,  without  emotion.  I  assure  you  that  it  was  my 
men  and  boys  who  held  me  up  to  my  work  in  our  desperate  battles  of  Antietam, 
Gettysburg,  Spottsylvania,  Bethesda  Church,  etc.,  and  not  I  who  held  them  to 
theirs. 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

The  only  occasions  when  fear  departed  from  me  were  when  some  of  the  men 
and  boys  whom  I  loved  would  fall  before  me,  torn  and  mangled  by  bullets  or 
shot  or  pieces  of  shell,  when  the  battle  was  so  hot  that  I  could  not  spare  men 
to  remove  them,  and  they  would  turn  to  me  with  beseeching  faces  for  help, 
which  I  could  not  give  them  for  the  time  being.  Then,  perhaps,  I  woxild  be 
come  desperate,  and  in  the  fulness  of  my  desire  to  avenge  their  sufferings  I 
might  have  appeared  to  be  reckless.  Whether  any  one  could  have  done  better 
than  I  did  with  such  men  I  will  not  pretend  to  say.  But  I  will  say  that  it  must 
have  been  a  very  poor  officer  who  could  not  have  done  as  well.  It  was  my  men 
and  boys  who  made  my  Battery's  reputation.  It  is  their  glory,  not  mine. 

•  This  expression  of  Capt.  Stewart  is  valuable  not  only  as  a  tribute  to 
the  men  who  served  under  his  command,  but  also  as  an  index  to  his  own 
character.  No  one  who  ever  served  as  an  enlisted  man  can  mistake  the 
meaning  of  such  sentiments  expressed  by  a  company  or  battery  com 
mander.  Without  intending  to  be  invidious,  it  seems  proper  to  remark 
that  service  in  a  battery  dating  almost  from  the  birth  of  the  Union  and 
honorably  identified  with  all  our  wars  was  calculated  to  produce  an  esprit 
du  corps  and  excite  sentiments  of  pride  and  motives  of  conduct  not  ordi 
narily  felt  by  members  of  organizations  temporary  in  character.  This  vol 
ume  will  be  found  a  continuous  tribute  to  the  manly  worth  and  soldierly 
virtues  of  a  class  of  men  who  have  received  scant  justice  in  our  military 
history  —  the  enlisted  men  of  the  Regular  Army.  Their  example  of  steadi 
ness,  discipline,  devotion  and  fidelity  can  never  be  forgotten  by  any  one 
who  served  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  them  as  a  detached  volunteer. 


CHAPTER   I. 


SKETCH  OF  REGULAR  ARTILLERY  —  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  BATTERY  B — 
BUEXA  VISTA — UTAH  EXPEDITION — ARRIVAL  OF  BATTERY  BAT 
WASHINGTON. 

Y  act  of  Congress  approved  March  16, 
1802,  the  existing  Regular  artillery  of 
the  United  States  was  founded.  This 
was  the  act  which  separated  the  ; '  Corps 
of  Artillerists  and  Engineers,"  created 
hy  the  act  of  March  3,  1799,  into  distinct 
arms  of  service. 

By  act  of  April  12,  1808,  the  desig 
nation  was  changed  to  "the  Regiment 
of  Light  Artillery. "  This  regiment  was 
authorized  to  consist  of  nine  companies,, 
each  having  under  that  establishment  a 
Captain,  two  subalterns  and  about  35  en 
listed  men.  These  companies,  however,, 
were  employed  in  garrison  duty,  none  being  equipped  as  light  artillery. 
In  January,  1812,  as  part  of  the  preparation  for  war  with  Great  Britain, 
two  more  regiments  of  light  artillery  were  created.  The  service  of  the 
artillery  during  that  contest  has  not  made  much  impress  upon  history, 
hardly  any  record  of  the  operations  of  batteries  having  been  preserved, 
either  in  the  annals  of  the  time  or  in  official  reports.  The  largest  force 
assembled  in  any  engagement  was  the  five  batteries  with  Jackson  at  New 
Orleans.  Gen.  Brown  appears  to  have  had  three  batteries  on  the  Niagara 
frontier,  and  Macomb  had  three  at  Plattsburg,  besides  several  artillery 
companies  serving  as  infantry;  but  there  is  only  casual  mention  of  their 
performance.  In  1814  the  three  regiments  were  consolidated  into  what 
was  termed  the  "  Corps  of  Artillery, "  consisting  of  four  battalions  of  eight 
companies  each.  On  March  3,  1816,  the  President  was  authorized  to 
restore  the  light  artillery  regiment  on  the  footing  of  1808,  and  to  retain 
the  four  battalions  of  ' '  Corps  Artillery ' '  for  garrison  duty.  This  organi 
zation  was  maintained  until  March  2,  1821,  when  the  existing  1st,  2d,  3d 
and  4th  regiments  were  organized,  to  consist  of  nine  companies  each, 
having  a  strength  of  three  officers  and  32  enlisted  men  to  the  company, 
besides  six  artificers,  who  were  known  as  ' '  ordnance  mechanics, ' '  and  who 
were  the  pioneers  of  the  existing  Ordnance  Department,  separated  from 
the  artillery  by  the  act  of  April  5,  1832. 


12  THE  \CAXXOXEER. 

tinder  the  organization  of  1821  one  company  in  each  regiment  was 
•equipped  as  light  artillery,  the  others  being  equipped  as  infantry  and 
.assigned  to  garrison  duty.  The  companies  equipped  as  light  artillery 
were  K  of  the  1st  —  a  new  company  —  A  of  the  2d,  C  of  the  3d  and 
B  of  the  4th  regiment,  the  Captains  being  Worth  of  the  1st,  Fanning 
of  the  2d,  Jones  of  the  3d  and  Humphrey  of  the  4th.  For  17  years 
these  light  companies  did  garrison  duty  the  same  as  the  rest,  the  only 
•difference  being  that  they  were  each  equipped  with  batteries  of  four 
brass  six-pounders  and  were  drilled  in  the  light  artillery  manual  of  that 
time.  It  is  worth  while  to  remark  that  these  batteries  were  not  equipped 
with  horses  during  that  period.  The  guns  had  neither  caissons  nor  lirnber- 
•chests,  but  were  hauled  by  the  men  with  drag-ropes,  and  carried  their  am 
munition  in  boxes  mounted  on  the  axle  of  the  gun-carriage  between  the 
"" cheeks"  of  the  stock  and  the  wheels. 

In  1837,  on  account  of  the  Florida  war,  two  of  these  batteries  were 
horsed  and  their  complement  increased  to  71  enlisted  men.  They  were  C 
of  the  3d,  commanded  by  Capt.  Ringgold,  and  B  of  the  4th,  Capt.  Wash 
ington.  But  of  these  two  only  Washington's  Battery,  B  of  the  4th,  actu 
ally  took  part  in  the  operations.  This  battery,  prior  to  the  reorganization 
of  1821,  had  been  Company  C,  of  the  Third  Battalion,  Corps  of  Artillery, 
and  as  such  had  served  as  a  rifle  company  in  the  battle  of  Plattsburg  in 
1814.  The  orders  by  which  Battery  B  was  assigned  to  field  service  in  the 
Florida  war  were  as  follows  : 

Capt.  Washing-ton's  company  (B),  4th  Artillery,  serving-  as  light  artillery, 
•with  its  pieces,  caissons,  ammunition  wagons  and  traveling-  forge,  will  move 
•with  the  column,  etc.  [Paragraph  12,  G.  O.  No.  68,  Jan.  27, 1838.] 

The  use  of  artillery  not  being  practicable  in  the  forests  and  swamps 
of  Florida,  Capt.  Washington's  guns  were  parked  at  a  fortified  camp  on 
Jupiter  River  and  the  men  acted  as  provisional  dragoons  for  some  months. 
At  the  same  time  Companies  B  and  H,  of  the  1st  Artillery,  were  drawn 
from  Savannah  and  old  Fort  St.  Augustine  and  equipped  as  light  infantry 
•or  riflemen,  in  which  capacity  they  served  to  the  end  of  the  Seminole  war. 
In  March,  1839,  appears  a  paragraph  in  general  orders  complimenting 
Battery  B  upon  its  ' '  arduous  and  effective  service  in  the  pestilential  region 
forming  the  theater  of  operations,"  and  ordering  it  North  "  with  a  view  to 
restore  the  health  of  the  officers  and  men. ' '  The  losses  of  the  Battery  dur 
ing  the  Florida  war  are  stated  at  19  out  of  about  70  present  for  duty;  but 
this  was  no  doubt  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  by  disease,  there  being  no  separate 
record  of  casualties  in  action  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained. 

May  20, 1839,  an  order  was  issued  which  marked  an  era  in  the  his 
tory  of  American  artillery.  This  was  Secretary  Poinsett's  order  directing 
the  establishment  of  a  camp  of  instruction  at  Trenton,  N.  J. .  where  the 
four  light  batteries  were  ordered  to  rendezvous  "for  a  thorough  course 
of  drill  and  instruction  according  to  the  system  of  tactics  lately  approved. " 
[Vide  "  Instruction  for  Field  Artillery,  Horse  and  Foot,  1839-40." 
Translated  from  the  French  by  First  Lieut.  Robert  Anderson.] 


CAMP  OF  INSTRUCTION.  13 

At  this  camp  a  light  artillery  brigade  was  formed,  under  command 
of  Maj.  Abraham  Eustis.  It  consisted  of  Battery  K  of  the  1st,  Capt. 
Taylor;  Battery  A  of  the  2d,  Lieut.  Duncan;  Battery  C  of  the  3d,  Capt. 
Ringgold,  and  Battery  B  of  the  4th  Artillery,  Capt.  Washington.  The 
armament  of  the  Battery  at  this  time  was  four  brass  six-pounders,  and  the 
complement  was  one  Captain,  two  subalterns,  four  Sergeants,  eight  Cor 
porals  and  60  men,  with  40  draft -horses  and  12  saddle-horses  —  all  the 
non-commissioned  officers  being  mounted. 

Troubles  on  the  Canadian  frontier  caused  two  of  the  batteries  —  A  of 
the  2d  and  B  of  the  4th  —  to  be  sent  to  Ogdensburg  in  1842-43.  In  1845 
the  impending  difficulties  with  Mexico  caused  Ringgold's  Battery  —  C  of 
the  3d —and  Washington's— B  of  the  4th— together  with  T.  W.  Sherman's 
Battery  —  E  of  the  3d  —  to  be  sent  to  the  Rio  Grande,  where  they  were  in 
corporated  with  Gen.  Taylor's  '  'Army  of  Observation. ' '  The  armament  of 
the  Battery  was  increased  by  adding  two  12-pounder  howitzers  to  the  four 
six-pounder  guns,  and  the  complement  was  raised  to  four  officers  and  122 
enlisted  men. 

As  the  requisite  number  of  Regular  artillery  recruits  were  not  avail 
able,  the  three  batteries  were  filled  up  by  detaching  men  from  the  in 
fantry  commands.  Battery  B  had  76  men  of  its  own,  and  these  were 
reinforced  by  20  from  the  3d  Regular  Infantry  and  15  each  from  the  1st 
and  2d  Illinois  volunteers,  making  126,  or  four  more  than  the  complement. 
The  officers  of  Battery  B  at  this  time  were  Capt.  J.  M.  Washington,  First 
Lieut.  John  P.  O'Brien  and  Second  Lieuts.  Brent,  Whiting  (who  died 
of  yellow  fever  in  1853)  and  Darius  N.  Couch  (afterward  Major-General 
in  the  Union  Army). 

Upon  the  capture  of  La  Vega's  battery  of  six  Mexican  four-pounders 
at  Resaca,  the  captured  guns  were  divided  among  the  three  batteries  of 
Taylor's  Army,  two  of  them  being  assigned  to  Battery  B,  thus  making 
it  an  eight-gun  Battery,  consisting  of  four  six -pounders,  two  12-pounder 
howitzers  and  two  captured  Mexican  four-pounders.  To  man  these  new 
pieces  an  additional  detail  of  14  men  was  made  from  the  3d  Infantry, 
which  brought  the  strength  of  the  Battery  up  to  140  enlisted  men,  in  the 
camp  at  Mier  immediately  before  starting  for  Monterey. 

The  Hon.  William  R.  Morrison,  Member  of  Congress  from  Illinois, 
who  was  then  a  private  soldier  in  Col.  Bissell's  2d  Illinois  volunteers, 
lias  informed  the  author  that  Washington's  Battery  (B  of  the  4th)  was 
considered  at  that  time  a  corps  d'elite,  and  that  when  the  call  was  made 
on  their  regiment  for  volunteers  to  join  it  the  only  difficulty  was  in 
selecting  the  15  or  20  required  out  of  the  200  or  more  who  were  anxious 
to  go.  The  quality  of  these  "detached  volunteers"  from  the  2d  Illinois 
may  be  imagined  from  the  fact  that  two  of  them  —  William  Queen  and 
Patrick  O'Hamett  —  became  Sergeants  in  less  than  two  months  after  join 
ing  the  Battery. 

No  event  of  importance  in  the  history  *f  the  Battery  occurred  during 
the  march  from  Mier  to  Monterey.  During  the  operations  which  ended 


14  THE  CANNOXEER. 

in  the  capitulation  of  Monterey  Battery  B  took  a  prominent  part,  and 
O'Brien's  section  (two  six-pounders)  is  credited  with  silencing  and  driving 
off  a  Mexican  battery  of  four  four-pounders  on  the  Saltillo  Eoad. 

Advancing  to  Saltillo,  Battery  B  was  thrown  out  toward  Buena  Vista 
with  the  advance  of  the  army,  and  on  the  22d  of  February,  1847,  Gen. 
Wool  posted  Capt.  Washington's  guns  to  command  the  road  leading  from 
San  Luis  Potosi,  from  which  direction  Gen.  Santa  Anna  was  approaching 
in  heavy  force.  During  that  afternoon  the  Battery  drove  off  several  detach 
ments  of  Mexican  lancers  who  menaced  its  position. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  Feb.  23,  1847,  Gen.  Taylor  in  person  directed 
'Capt,  Washington  to  detach  his  left  half-battery,  under  Lieut.  John  P. 
O'Brien,  with  orders  to  report  two  guns  to  Col.  Bowles,  2d  Indiana,  and 
two  to  Col.  Bissell,  2d  Illinois  volunteers.  Lieut.  O'Brien  proceeded  with 
one  six-pounder  gun,  one  12-pounder  howitzer  and  the  two  captured 
Mexican  four-pounders  to  the  front,  but  upon  the  suggestion  of  Col.  Bissell 
went  into  battery  with  three  guns  on  the  flank  of  the  2d  Indiana,  leaving 
only  one  gun  (one  of  the  Mexican  four-pounders)  with  the  2d  Illinois. 
The  Mexicans  soon  attacked  the  position  of  the  2d  Indiana  from  the 
cover  of  a  deep  ravine,  and  a  desperate  encounter  ensued,  in  which  the 
Hoosiers,  assailed  front  and  flank,  were  forced  to  retire.  O'Brien  worked 
his  guns  until  the  enemy  was  within  30  feet  of  his  muzzles,  and  then 
retired  his  six-pounder  and  his  12-pound  howitzer  by  prolonge,  abandon 
ing  the  four-pounder  to  the  enemy,  every  Cannoneer,  Driver  and  horse 
attached  to  it  being  either  killed  or  disabled. 

Arriving  at  the  position  of  the  2d  Illinois  O'Brien  halted,  unfixed 
prolonge,  and  made  another  desperate  effort  to  stop  the  Mexican  advance. 
Gen.  Wool  says  in  his  report  that  O'Brien,  after  having  two  horses  killed 
under  him,  and  being  painfully  wounded  in  the  knee,  took  charge  of  his 
howitzer  in  person  and  continued  to  fire  canister  until  the  Mexicans 
had  actually  killed  his  "No.  1"  and  captured  his  "No.  2"  at  the 
muzzle  of  the  piece.  He  then  abandoned  both  guns  —  the  six-pounder  and 
the  howitzer  — and  made  good  his  retreat,  with  his  few  remaining  men, 
under  cover  of  the  fire  of  the  2d  Illinois.  Col.  William  K.  Morrison, 
already  quoted,  says  that,  though  serving  in  two  wars  —  the  Mexican 
war  and  the  Rebellion  —  he  has  never  seen  officers  and  men  stand  by  their 
guns  like  O'Brien  and  his  men  stood  by  Battery  B  at  Buena  Vista. 

At  this  moment  O'Brien  succeeded  in  getting  a  horse,  mounted  on 
which  he  returned  to  Capt.  Washington,  who  had  three  six-pounders 
and  the  remaining  12-pound  howitzer  still  in  reserve,  and  at  his  request 
the  Captain  gave  him  a  section  composed  of  two  six-pounders,  with 
which  the  indomitable  O'Brien  returned  to  the  front  at  a  gallop.  Ar 
riving  at  the  line  of  battle  he  found  the  2d  Illinois,  reinforced  by 
the  remnant  of  the  2d  Indiana,  and  the  2d  Kentucky,  which  had 
just  come  up  under  Col.  McKee,  engaged  in  an  almost  hand-to-hand 
conflict  with  the  Mexicans,  Who,  largely  reinforced,  had  now  changed 
their  attack  from  the  left  flank  to  the  right,  and  who  had  also  got 


BUENA  VISTA.  15 

three  guns   in    position    to  enfilade  the  front  of  Bissell  and  McKee. 

"Give  it  to  their  artillery,  Mr.  O'Brien,"  said  Bissell,  "and  we 
will  take  care  of  their  infantry." 

O'Brien  with  his  two  6-pounders  now  advanced  as  close  to  the  Mexi 
can  guns  as  the  conformation  of  the  ground  would  permit,  supported  by 
two  companies  of  the  2d  Kentucky,  and  opened  on  the  Mexican  battery 
with  canister  and  round  shot.  He  silenced  them  in  about  10  minutes. 
Meantime  the  enemy  on  our  left  flank  had  been  working  around  until 
they  came  in  range  of  Capt.  Washington's  reserve  guns,  posted  in  the 
main  road,  and  he  opened  on  them,  causing  them  to  break  and  take  shelter 
in  adjacent  ravines  in  great  confusion.  During  these  operations  Capt. 
Bragg  had  come  into  close  action  in  our  center  with  Battery  C  of  the  3d, 
unlimbering  within  50  yards  of  their  leading  infantry,  and,  "spreading  his 
guns,"  (that  is,  firing  to  the  right  with  his  right  section  and  to  the  left 
with  his  left,  so  as  to  enfilade  their  line,)  gave  them  such  a  torrent  of  can 
ister  that  they  broke  and  fled  at  the  third  round. 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  the  famous,  though  apocryphal,  incident 
of  "a  little  more  grape,  Capt.  Bragg  !  "  is  alleged  to  have  occurred.  The 
author  of  that  celebrated  "Whig  campaign  story"  could  not  have  been 
much  of  an  artilleryman,  or  he  would  have  known  that  there  was  no  such 
thing  as  "grape"  in  light  artillery.  The  actual  fact,  as  related  to  the 
author  by  Gen.  Pleasonton,  who,  as  a  Lieutenant  of  dragoons,  was  then 
serving  as  a  temporary  Aid  to  Gen.  Taylor,  is  as  follows : 

"  Gen.  Taylor,  accompanied  by  his  Chief  of  Staff,  Col.  Bliss,  and  two 
or  three  Aids,  rode  up  to  Bragg's  battery  just  as  it  was  opening.  Observing 
the  effect  of  the  first  round,  he  inquired : 

"  'What  are  you  firing,  Captain?' 

1 ' l  Canister,  sir. ' 

"'Double  or  single?' 

'"Single,  sir.' 

"  'Then  double  it,  and  give  'em  h— 1 ! '" 

It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  the  total  rout  of  the  Mexican  army  or 
the  subsequent  operations  of  that  part  of  the  United  States  forces  com 
manded  by  Gen.  Taylor,  because  this  is  not  only  not  a  history  of  the 
Mexican  war,  but  the  object  of  the  present  chapter  is  merely  to  show  that 
Battery  B  was  no  "raw  hand  at  the  business"  when  it  joined  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  in  October  1861. 

The  losses  of  Battery  B  at  Buena  Vista  (all  from  the  left  half-battery 
under  Lieut.  O'Brien)  were  as  follows  : 

KILLED. 

Privates—  Privates- 
James  Holley,  4th  Artillery.  Michael  Doughty,  4th  Artillery. 
Horace  Weekley,  4th  Artillery.               William  Green,  3d  Infantry. 
Kinckes,  4th  Artillery. 

SEVERELY   WOUNDED. 

Lieutenant-John  P.  O'Brien.  Sergeant- William  Queen,  3d  Illinois. 

Sergeant— Andrew  Pratt,  4th  Artillery.    Corporal— O'Harnett,  3d  Illinois. 
Private— Floyd,  1st  Illinois.  Private— Baker,  2d  Illinois. 


16  THE  CANNONEER. 

Privates— Hannans,  4th  Artillery.          Privates— Clarke,  3d  Infantry. 

Thurman,  2d  Illinois.  Butler,  4th  Artillery. 

Pfeiffer,  4th  Artillery.  Burch,  4th  Artillery. 

Beagle,  4th  Artillery.  Brown,  4th  Artillery. 

Berrier,  4th  Artillery. 

SLKJHTLY  WOUNDED. 

Eleven  men  —  names  not  given  in  the  casualty  report. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Killed 5 

Died  of  wounds 4 

Severely  wounded 11 

Slightly  wounded 11 

Total 31 

Battery  B  was  not  engaged  seriously  during  the  Mexican  war  after 
Buena  Vista.  Upon  the  evacuation  of  Monterey  it  retired  to  Ringgold 
Barracks,  where  it  remained  for  some  years,  until  ordered  to  New  Orleans, 
en  route  to  Fort  Leaven  worth,  in  1855  or  1856. 

Nothing  of  importance  in  its  history  occurred  during  this  period, 
except  the  enlistment  of  Private  James  Stewart  in  its  ranks  in  the  year 
1851  —  an  event  destined  to  be  immortally  linked  with  its  fame  in  a  greater 
war  and  on  more  important  fields. 

The  exigencies  of  the  Mexican  war  had  caused  several  other  batteries 
to  be  horsed  and  equipped  as  light  artillery,  but  they  were  all  reduced 
after  the  peace  except  three,  of  which  Battery  B  was  one — even  Bragg's 
(Ringgold's)  Battery  C  of  the  3d  being  dismounted  at  Santa  Fe  in  1849. 

The  history  of  the  Battery  from  this  time  until  its  arrival  in  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  from  Utah,  October,  1861,  is  told  by  Capt.  Stewart  in  a 
charming  little  memoir,  recently  prepared  by  him  at  the  request  of  the 
author,  and  published  as  an  appendix  to  this  volume. 


CHAPTER  II. 


REORGANIZATION —  THE  DETACHED  VOLUNTEERS — THE  "ALL  QUIET" 
WINTER  —  SECOND  BULL  RUN  —  SOUTH  MOUNTAIN — ANTIETAM  — 
THE  BLOODY  CORNFIELD  —  GALLANTRY  OF  GEN.  GIBBON  —  TER 
RIFIC  SLAUGHTER  IN  THE  BATTERY  —  INFANTRY  AND  ARTILLERY 
AT  30  PACES — CAPT.  CAMPBELL  WOUNDED  —  STEWART  TAKES 
COMMAND  —  PROPORTION  OF  KILLED  TO  WOUNDED  —  McCLEL- 
LAN'S  WASTED  OPPORTUNITY  —  REFLECTIONS  UPON  ANTIETAM. 

HE  Battery  upon  arriving  at  Washing 
ton  was  armed  with  six  12-ponnder 
Napoleon  guns,  or  "light  twelves,"  as 
they  were  officially  called,  and  ordered 
to  be  placed  on  the  "full  war  footing" 
—  that  is  to  say,  six  guns,  12  caissons, 
battery  wagon,  forge,  etc.,  with  six 
horses  each  for  the  guns,  caissons  and 
forge,  and  eight  for  the  battery  wagon, 
12  spare  horses  and  16  saddle-horses  for 
the  Sergeants,  Artificers,  Buglers  and  the 
Guidon.  The  personnel  authorized  was 
four  commissioned  officers,  two  Staff 
Sergeants  (Orderly  and  Quartermaster), 
six  line  Sergeants  (Chiefs  of  Piece),  12 
J,  Corporals  (six  Gunners  and  six  Chiefs  of 
Caisson),  five  Artificers,  two  Buglers, 
one  Guidon,  and  120  Cannoneers  and  Drivers — 152  in  all. 

At  this  time,  which  was  in  the  month  of  October,  1861,  the  Battery 
had  in  its  ranks  not  more  than  59  enlisted  men,  all  Regulars.  A  few 
Regular  recruits  were  sent  on  from  Carlisle  Barracks  and  other  rendez 
vous  of  the  Regular  Army,  but  net  near  enough  to  make  up  for  the  losses 
by  expiration  of  terms  of  sen-ice. 

The  following  is  the  roster  of  the  "Old  Regulars"  who  constituted 
the  Battery  in  1861  when  it  first  joined  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  be 
fore  any  detached  volunteers  had  been  assigned  to  it : 

Captain— John  Gibbon.  Sergeants— Henry  Workman, 
Lieutenants— John  Hunt,  Chris.  Maisak, 

Edmund  Bainbridge,  Robert  Moore. 

Joseph  B.  Campbell.  Corporals — John  Mitchell, 
Orderly  Sergeant— James  Stewart.  Andrew  McBride, 

Sergeant—Charles  A.  Santmyer,  William  West, 

2 


18 


THE  CANNONEER. 


Corporals— John  M.  Benjamin, 
Jonathan  Harding, 
John  C.  Conners, 
Samuel  Ball, 
Henry  Moore. 
Buglers— John  Cook, 

William  Castor. 
Privates — Andrew  Ames, 
John  B.  Lackey, 
James  Knowles, 
Moses  Armstrong, 
Patrick  Hogan, 
Michael  Gallagher, 
William  Hayes, 
Dennis  Driscoll, 
Andre  Benzinger, 
John  Bingham, 
Ed.  Bogey, 
Hugh  Boyd, 
John  F.  Bradley, 
Joseph  Brownlee, 
John  Brown, 
John  S.  Carter, 
James  Cahill, 
Fred.  A.  Chapin, 
William  L.  Crawford, 


Privates— James  Maher, 

William  Maffitt, 
Barney  McQuade, 
Frank  Rudge, 
Horace  DeLacey, 
William  Schroeder, 
Charles  A.  Scott, 
John  Sheehan, 
Henry  Lyons, 
William  Kelley, 
Philip  Smith, 
Joseph  Herzog, 
William  Greene, 
William  C.  Gardiner, 
Michael  Donovan, 
George  Steigner, 
Richard  Tea, 
Adam  Trodon, 
William  Trotter, 
Julius  Turk, 
Henry  Vogle, 
John  Willsee, 
John  Woodward. 

Artificers— John  A.  Goeb, 
Pat  McCabe, 
Ed.  Sullivan. 


These  were  always  designated  in  the  parlance  of  the  Battery  as  "  The 
Old  Eegulars,"  a  title  which  they  made  a  synonym  of  honor  and  glory  in 
the  great  events  which  they  were  so  soon  destined  to  share.  The  "Old 
Eegulars  "  of  Battery  B  were  men 
of  extraordinarily  high  character 
— far  above  the  average  of  enlisted 
men  in  the  Regular  Army.  Many 
of  them  attained  distinction  in  the 
operations  which  ensued. 

Every  Regular  battery  was 
short  of  its  complement,  by  rea 
son  of  the  fact  that  recruiting  for 
the  Regular  Army  had  nearly 
ceased  in  consequence  of  the 
popularity  of  the  volunteer  serv 
ice,  and  it  became  necessary  to 
fill  up  the  Regular  batteries  by 
detaching  men  from  the  volunteer 
regiments.  Accordingly  orders 
were  issued  by  Gen.  McClellan 


ORD.  SERG'T  SANTMYER. 
(A  Sample  "Old  Regular.") 

authorizing  the  recruitment  of  the  Regular  batteries  from  the  volun 
teer  regiments  of  the  commands  to  which  they  were  attached.  Battery  B 
was  at  that  time  attached  to  what  was  sometime  later  known  as  King's 
Division  of  McDowell's  Corps.  This  was  when  the  batteries  were  assigned 
to  divisions,  and  the  artillery  of  King's  Division  was  composed  of  Edgell's 


THE  DETACHED  VOLUNTEERS. 


19 


1st  New  Hampshire  Battery ;  Battery  D,  1st  Rhode  Island ;  Reynoids's 
Battery  L,  1st  New  York,  and  Battery  B,  4th  Regulars,  then  commanded 
by  First  Lieut.  Joseph  B.  Campbell,  who  was  also  Acting  Chief  of  Artil 
lery  of  the  division.  John  Gibbon  was  Captain  of  the  Battery  on  the  Regu 
lar  Army  list,  but  he  had  been  made  Brigadier-General  of  volunteers,  and 
was  then  commanding  the  Fourth  Brigade  of  King's  Division.  This  bri 
gade,  afterward  known  to  fame  as  the  "Iron  Brigade,"  consisted  of  the 
2d,  6th  and  7th  Wisconsin  Regiments  and  the  19th  Indiana. 

The  Third  Brigade  of  the  division  was  composed  of  New  York  troops, 
the  regiments  being  the  20th,  21st,  23d  and  35th,  and  was  then  commanded 
by  Gen.  Marsena  R.  Patrick,  afterward  Provost-Marshal  General  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac. 

The  result  of  McClellan's  order  of  November,  1861,  was  to  "detach" 
men  from  these  commands  as  follows  : 

[These  men  were  not  all  detached  at  one  time,  but  at  various  periods  from 
October,  1861,  to  June,  1862.] 

From  the  23d  New  York  : 


John  Austin, 
Asa  Carman, 
Albert  Easton, 
Charles  Hathaway, 
George  Johnson, 
George  Lacey, 
Orlando  Patrick, 
Azel  Buckley, 
Lewis  Putnam, 

From  the  35th 
James  Arnold, 
James  Cobb, 
James  Kline, 
Henry  Dildin, 
James  Gordon, 
Frank  Muldoon, 
John  McDonald, 
Henry  Plumb, 
Edward  Wheeler, 

From  the  19th 
John  Anderson, 
Peter  Casper, 
William  Dickinson, 
Joseph  Grim, 
John  W.  Knight, 
Martin  Phillips, 
Arthur  Stedman, 


Chris.  Brennan, 
Stephen  Chiltou, 
Henry  Garr, 
Charles  Harris, 
Dewitt  C.  Johnson, 
Samuel  McManus, 
George  C.  Smith, 
William  Mason, 
Joseph  Randall, 

New  York  : 

Charles  Allen, 
Patrick  Comafort, 
Robert  Dewar, 
Nathan  Forbes, 
John  Kelley, 
William  J.  Moore, 
Frank  McDonald, 
Thomas  Shaw, 
Lewis  Tooley, 

Elon  Waters. 

Indiana : 

William  Balch, 
William  J.  Codey, 
Joseph  Gould, 
James  Jenkins, 
John  C.  Kennedy, 
La  Fayette  Pursley, 
Isaac  Sowerwin, 
William  Zimmerman. 


From  the  2d  Wisconsin  : 
John  Compton,  Preston  Johnson, 


Charles  Jenks, 
William  Bartholomew, 
Edgar  A.  Thorpe, 


Thomas  M.  Clarke, 
George  Griffin, 
Henry  B.  Foster, 
Elbridge  G.  Packard. 


Henry  Brown, 
Timothy  Dean, 
Jesse  Garr, 
William  Hogarty, 
Andrew  Kelley, 
Edward  O'Brien, 
Ira  Slawson, 
Fred.  Osborne. 


Frank  Call, 
James  Clark, 
Frank  W.  Dexter, 
Dave  Fredenburg, 
George  Lawton, 
Robert  McAlone, 
Joseph  Morgan, 
George  Van  Anden, 
Eben  Taylor, 


Fleming  Smith, 
George  Crannells, 
John  O'Neill, 
John  W.  Jones, 
Philip  Wingate, 
Claus  Young, 
James  Wine, 


Nathaniel  Malson, 
Henry  Burkhardt, 
John  Johnson, 
John  McDermott, 


20  THE  CANNONEER. 

From  the  6th  Wisconsin  : 

Henry  Childs,  Isaac  Fort,  Henry  G.  McDougall, 

John  G.  Hodgedon,  Edgar  B.  Armstrong  Alonzo  Priest, 

James  S.  Armstrong,          Henry  M.  Colby,  Seymour  W.  Colby, 

Henry  Cardey,  Miner  Whemple,  William  L.  Johnson, 

John  B.  Sanborn,  John  H.  Fillmore,  William  Gardner. 

From  the  7th  Wisconsin  : 

Eben  B.  Dunlap,  Philip  Frazier,  Andrew  J.  Brunt, 

John  L.  Jones,  Edwin  Mackey,  Maitland  J.  Freeman, 

Albert  Hunt,  Lawrence  Bowling,  Lucius  Marshall, 

Andrew  Bishop,  Benjamin  F.  Branham,      James  Thorpe, 

Benjamin  H.  Stillman. 

This  roll  embraces  all  the  volunteers  detached  into  the  Battery  from 
October,  1861,  to  June,  1862.  Others  from  the  same  regiments  came  in  at 
later  periods  and  will  be  mentioned  in  their  turn.  Some  of  those  in  the 
above  roll  did  not  remain  with  the  Battery.  The  total  number  was  117 
men,  of  whom  about  100  served  in  the  Battery  until  their  terms  of  enlist 
ment  expired,  or  they  fell,  killed  or  disabled,  in  battle. 

These  detached  volunteers,  with,  the  remaining  "Old  Regulars," 
brought  the  strength  of  the  Battery  np  to  the  authorized  complement ; 
but  it  never  had  the  full  strength  present  for  duty  after  the  Winter  of 
1861-62. 

Great  and  radical  changes  have  been  made  in  the  material  of  light 
artillery  since  1861.  The  12-pounder  Napoleon  gun  and  its  coadjutors,  the 
10-pounder  Parrott  and  the  three-inch  Rodman  rifles,  have  made  a  place  in 
history  which  seems  to  entitle  them  to  at  least  a  cursory  description.  The 
12-pounder  Napoleon  was  of  bronze,  smooth-bore,  and  muzzle-loading,  as 
was  all  the  artillery  of  that  day,  except  one  or  two  experimental  guns  by 
Armstrong  and  Krupp  in  Europe.  It  was  officially  known  as  the  ' '  light 
twelve,"  to  distinguish  it  from  the  old  regulation  12-pounder,  which  was 
longer  and  heavier,  though  of  the  same  caliber.  Its  principal  dimensions 
were  as  follows : 

Length  over  all 6  feet. 

Length  of  bore 5  feet  3i  inches. 

Diameter  at  breech 11  inches. 

Diameter  at  muzzle 81  inches. 

Diameter  of  bore 4$  inches. 

Weight  of  gun 1,330  pounds. 

The  round,  solid  shot  for  this  gun  weighed  12  pounds.  The  common 
shell,  with  bursting  charge  (8-ounce)  and  fuse,  weighed  nine  and  one-half 
pounds.  The  shrapnel  or  spherical  case,  which  was  a  thin  shell  rilled  with 
musket  balls  and  a  bursting  charge ,  weighed  with  its  "sabot,"  12^  pounds. 
The  canister,  which  was  a  tin  can  of  the  size  of  the  bore  and  six  inches 
long,  filled  with  cast-iron  shot  about  an  inch  in  dimeter,  weighed  14  pounds. 
The  "sabot"  was  a  piece  of  wood  turned  to  fit  the  bore,  and  was  placed 
between  the  powder  and  the  projectile,  instead  of  the  "wads"  formerly 
used.  It  was  used  only  in  smooth-bore  guns  firing  spherical  projectiles. 
The  rifled  guns,  which  fired  conical  projectiles,  did  not  use  the  "sabot." 
By  regulation  the  powder  charges  for  shot,  shell  and  case  were  two  and 


'OLD  BETSEY"  AND  HER  "FAMILY." 


21 


[This  picture  is  engraved  from  a  tintype  taken  in  the  field  in  July,  1862, 
when  the  Battery  was  in  front  of  Fredericksburg,  and  kindly  furnished  by 
Comrade  Charley  Harris,  who  preserved  a  copy  of  it.  The  gun  —  "Old  Bet 
sey"— was  of  the  original  (1857)  pattern  of  the  12-pounder  Napoleon.  The 
later  patterns  were  cast  smooth  — that  is  to  say,  without  the  "handles"  on' 
top.  "Old  Betsey"  was  unlimbered  for  action  at  Appomattox,  but  did  not 
open  fire.] 


22  THE  CANNONEER. 

one-half  pounds,  and  for  canister  two  pounds.  The  fuse  at  that  time  used 
for  round  shell  and  case  shot  was  a  metal  disk  one  and  one-half  inches  in 
diameter.  Its  outer  surface  was  of  lead  or  an  alloy  of  lead  soft  enough 
to  cut  easily.  Underneath  this  metal  surface  was  a  ring  of  ' '  meal-pow 
der"  or  igniting  composition.  The  exterior  of  the  metal  disk  was  marked 
like  the  dial  of  a  clock — three-quarters,  one,  one  and  one-quarter,  one  and 
one-half,  one  and  three-quarters,  two,  and  so  on  up  to  five.  These  figures 
indicated  in  seconds  and  fractions  thereof  the  time  at  which  the  shell 
would  explode  after  leaving  the  muzzle,  if  the  soft  metal  was  cut  out 
immediately  over  the  desired  figure  on  the  dial,  so  as  to  expose  the  com 
position  at  that  point  to  the  flames  of  the  powder-charge. 

The  "ranges"  of  the  light  12-pounder  were  as  follows  for  case  shot: 

At  point  blank.: 300  yards Fuse,  1  secondc 

At  1  degree  elevation 560     "      "      If 

At  H  degrees       "        700     "      "      3J 

At  2  degrees         "        800     *•      "      3 

At3degrees         "        1,000     "      "      4 

At4degrees         "        1,200     "      "      5 

The  ranges  for  common  shell  were  a  trifle  greater  for  each  elevation 
than  those  for  case  shot  (because  the  common  shell  was  lighter),  and  in 
timing  shell  fuses  more  accuracy  was  usually  observed  than  with  case  shot, 
because  in  shell  practice  it  was  generally  desirable  to  burst  the  shell  at  or 
close  to  the  actual  target ;  whereas,  with  case,  it  was  sufficient  to  burst  it 
almost  anywhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  enemy.  The  carriage  of  the 
light  12-pounder  complete  weighed  2,600  pounds,  which,  with  the  gun, 
made  a  total  weight  of  3,800  pounds,  or  nearly  two  tons.  This  was  a 
pretty  solid  load  to  be  dragged,  as  it  often  was,  by  six  powerful  horses 
right  over  ditches,  plowed  fields,  stone  walls,  or  slashings  full  of  stumps 
and  logs. 

The  pattern  of  caisson  remains  now  substantially  as  it  was  then,  so 
no  detailed  description  of  it  is  necessary.  The  equipment  of  the  rifle 
batteries  was  in  general  the  same  as  that  of  the  12-pounders,  except  in  the 
matter  of  ammunition.  The  10-pounder  Parrott  was  scant  three  inches  in 
caliber,  and  was  made  of  cast  iron,  with  a  wrought-iron  band  shrunk  on 
over  the  breech.  The  three-inch  Rodman  was  of  wrought  iron,  forged 
solid ,  and  then  bored  and  rifled.  Both  these  types  of  guns  used  conical 
projectiles,  weighing,  for  solid  shot,  10  pounds ;  common  shell,  about  eight 
pounds,  and  shrapnel,  about  10J  pounds.  They  also  had  a  special  canister 
made  for  them.  The  three-inch  wrought-iron  rifle  was  generally  consid 
ered  superior  to  the  10-pounder  Parrott,  in  consequence  of  the  liability  of 
the  latter  to  blow  up  or  break  off  between  the  fore-end  of  the  reinforce  and 
the  trunions.  But  so  long  as  the  Parrott  gun  held  together  it  was  as  good 
as  any  muzzle-loading  rifle. 

The  Parrott  ammunition  could  be  used  in  the  three-inch  gun  if  neces 
sary,  but  the  three-inch  projectiles  could  not  be  used  in  the  10-pounder 
Parrotts,  because  the  latter  were  one-tenth  of  an  inch  smaller  caliber. 

The  first  real  organization  of  the  artillery  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 


ARTILLERY  ORGANIZATION.  23 

occurred  during  the  Winter  of  1861-62,  shortly  after  the  completion  of 
McClellan's  first  plan  of  divisional  organization  for  the  infantry.  At  this 
time  three  or  four  batteries  were  assigned  to  each  infantry  division,  one  of 
the  batteries  being  in  most  cases  Regular,  and  the  senior  officer  of  the 
Regular  battery  was  made  Acting  Chief  of  Artillery  for  the  division.  In 
this  manner  the  Regular  artillery  became,  so  to  speak,  the  nucleus  of 
organization,  pattern  and  instruction  for  the  volunteer  artillery  —  a  wise 
measure,  the  practical  results  of  which  soon  became  apparent. 

At  this  stage  of  the  conflict  several  Captains  of  Regular  artillery 
were  made  Brigadier-Generals  of  volunteers.  Gibbon,  Griffin,  Ricketts 
and  Ayres  were  prominent  among  these.  At  the  same  time  many  Lieu 
tenants  were  detached  for  the  numerous  staff  duties  incident  to  the  co 
lossal  scheme  in  progress,  which  was  the  organization  of  a  hundred 
thousand  raw  volunteers  into  what  was  destined  to  be  the  greatest,  most 
famous  and  most  successful  army  known  to  history.  As  the  comple 
ment  of  officers  allowed  on  the  roster  of  a  battery  was  fixed  by  law, 
the  result  of  this  indiscriminate  detaching  of  line  officers  of  Regular 
artillery  greatly  reduced  the  force  of  officers  serving  wTith  the  guns. 
To  such  an  extent  did  this  practice  obtain  that,  at  any  time  after  Jan 
uary,  1862,  hardly  any  Captain  of  Regular  artillery  would  be  found 
commanding  his  battery ;  there  were  seldom  more  than  two  officers  present 
with  the  guns,  and  these  frequently  two  Second  Lieutenants,  the  senior  of 
whom  would  be  in  command.  There  were  also  instances  where  a  battery 
was  commanded  for  considerable  periods  of  time  by  its  junior  Second 
Lieutenant  alone. 

Besides,  many  of  the  best  equipped  and  most  meritorious  Sergeants 
of  the  old  Regular  batteries  were  commissioned  as  officers  in  either  the 
Regular  or  the  volunteer  artillery,  and  in  most  cases  these  men  did  great 
honor  to  themselves  and  to  the  school  in  which  they  had  been  trailed. 

As  a  rule,  the  volunteer  batteries  during  the  initial  period  of  the 
civil  war  were  better  off  as  to  personnel  than  the  Regulars.  The  volun 
teer  batteries  always  had  their  full  complement  of  officers.  The  same  was 
true  of  the  5th  Regulars,  which  had  been  raised  in  May,  1861 ,  and  hence 
did  not  differ  from  the  volunteers  except  in  name.  But  the  old  1st,  2d, 
3d  and  4th  Artillery,  entwined  as  their  guidons  were  with  laurels  from  all 
the  early  battles  of  the  Republic,  not  only  had  to  furnish  instructors  for 
their  new  comrades,  but  had  also  contributed  liberally  to  the  resources  of 
the  foe  by  the  defection  of  their  Southern-raised  officers.  It  happened 
that  the  3d  and  4th  Artillery  had  been  favorite  regiments  with  Southern- 
born  officers  in  the  old  army,  and  between  them  they  furnished  the  Con 
federacy  with  some  of  the  best  commanders  they  had.  In  short,  the  old 
Regular  artillery  in  1861  found  itself  a  divided  camp,  contributing 
almost  impartially  to  the  artillery  organizations  of  two  hostile  armies,  des 
tined  to  wage  the  greatest  war  known  to  human  annals. 

After  Capt.  Gibbon  had  left  the  Battery  to  take  up  his  duties  as  a 
General  Officer  of  volunteers,  leaving  his  First  Lieutenant,  Joseph  B. 


24  THE  CANNONEER. 

Campbell,  in  command,  the  most  important  event,  as  it  proved,  in  the 
history  of  the  Battery  occurred.  This  was  the  promotion  of  James  Stewart, 
then  Orderly-Sergeant,  to  be  its  Second  Lieutenant.  This  gentleman  was 
a  native  of  Scotland,  but  had  served  in  the  ranks  of  the  Battery  for  10 
years  prior  to  the  war  in  every  capacity  from  private  to  Orderly  Sergeant. 
He  was  a  handsome  man,  of  fine,  soldierly  presence,  rather  grave  and 
taciturn  in  manner,  and  had  a  fair  education,  though  not  what  would 
be  called  a  man  of  culture.  But  he  had  that  rare  faculty  of  enforcing 
rigid  discipline  without  severity,  and  of  exerting  the  most  absolute  com 
mand  without  harshness  or  arrogance.  Punctilious  in  every  duty  of  his 
own  toward  his  men,  he  simply  asked  them  to  do  as  well  by  him.  To 
their  wants  or  complaints  he  was  ever  ready  to  listen  patiently  and 
kindly,  and  in  any  case  requiring  decision  he  was  absolutely  just  and 
impartial.  The  result  was,  having  an  exceptionally  spirited  and  self- 
respecting  lot  of  young  men  to  deal  with,  he  soon  brought  them  to  regard 
him  as  their  personal  friend  as  well  as  commander  —  a  feeling  that 
"told"  with  terrific  power  when  they  had  to  share  a  danger  or  a  glory 
with  him. 

This  was  splendid  raw  material,  but  it  had  to  be  handled  "right 
side  up  with  care,"  for  these  young  farmers  and  lumbermen  from  Wis 
consin,  Indiana  and  New  York  were  "quick  on  the  trigger,"  and  would 
not  take  any  nonsense  from  anybody,  with  or  without  shoulder-straps. 

Stewart  was  at  this  time  about  33  years  of  age.  In  person 
he  was  five  feet  eight  or  eight  and  a  half  inches  high,  though  his  erect 
carriage  and  the  poise  of  his  head  made  him  look  an  inch  taller  than 
he  really  was.  His  shoulders  were  broad  and  square,  and  his  chest 
measure  was  probably  not  less  than  41  or  42  inches.  His  hair  was  a  deep 
auburn-brown,  and  he  always  kept  it  trimmed  rather  short,  after  the 
"old  Regular"  fashion.  His  forehead  was  ample,  broad  and  square,  the 
frontal  or  eyebrow  bones  projecting  or  swelling  a  little.  His  nose  was 
short,  but  straight  and  full,  with  a  tendency  to  dilate  the  nostrils,  par 
ticularly  in  action.  His  eyebrows  were  square-cut,  and  his  eyes  were 
dark -blue  and  very  large.  Ordinarily  their  expression  was  kindly  and 
often  quizzical,  betraying  the  droll  humor  of  his  nature;  but  in  battle 
they  became  lighter  in  hue  and  had  a  hard,  set  expression  which  be 
tokened  his  fierce  courage  and  invincible  resolution.  His  mouth  was 
pretty  much  concealed  by  a  heavy,  crisp  mustache,  which  dropped  down 
below  his  chin  at  the  ends.  His  voice  was  deep-toned  and  strong,  and 
on  drill  or  in  battle  he  could  make  it  ring  above  the  clamor  and  crash; 
but  in  ordinary  intercourse  he  always  spoke  low  and  soft.  He  had  just 
a  trace  of  the  Scotch-Irish  accent,  though  hardly  enough  to  call  a 
' '  brogue. ' ' 

In  character  Stewart  was  simply  a  perfect  soldier.  As  an  officer  in 
the  Eegular  Army  he  was  associated  to  a  great  extent  with  graduates  of 
West  Point,  who,  of  course,  were  much  better  educated  and  more  polished 
in  manner  than  he  was,  but  he  yielded  to  none  of  them  in  the  attributes 


TRAITS  OF  STEWART.  25 

of  the  true  gentleman.  He  was  one  of  Nature's  noblemen.  His  qualities 
of  head  and  heart  were  those  which  neither  education  can  supply  nor  the 
lack  of  education  obscure.  I  have  always  had  a  theory  that  courage  is  the 
first  and  greatest  attribute  of  a  gentleman,  and  that  no  man  as  brave  as 
Stewart  could  possibly  be  mean  or  cruel. 

His  long  service  in  the  ranks  had  imbued  him  with  an  instinct  of 
subordination  and  habits  of  deference,  which  put  him  at  a  sort  of  disad 
vantage  when  brought  in  social  contact  with  superior  officers,  particularly 
if  they  were  West  Pointers.  As  to  habits,  he  was  fond  of  "creature  com 
forts,"  and  sometimes  indulged  in  them  quite  as  much  as  was  good  for 
him.  But  he  always  realized  when  it  was  "time  to  quit,"  and  whatever 
happened  during  convivial  nights  at  headquarters,  or  in  Washington,  he 
was  always  on  hand  in  the  morning  where  duty  called  him.  In  personal 
affairs  he  was  high  spirited  and  quick  tempered,  as  several  pugnacious 
officers  found  out  to  their  cost  one  time  or  another  in  camp  festivities.  In 
the  administration  of  his  Battery  he  was  quick  to  discriminate  between 
the  occasional  weaknesses  of  a  good,  true  soldier  and  the  habitual  faults  of 
a  "deadbeat."  He  would  forgive  or  ignore  many  trifling  offenses  on  the 
part  of  a  man  who  had  shown  distinguished  courage  in  action  or  attention 
to  duty  in  camp,  but  a  man  who  shirked  in  camp  or  skulked  in  battle  need 
expect  no  mercy  from  him.  As  it  happened,  the  quality  of  his  men  was 
such  that  while  he  had  frequent  cases  of  the  former  sort  to  deal  with,  he 
had  few  or  nearly  none  of  the  latter,  though  in  the  few  that  he  did  have 
his  treatment  of  them  Avas  exemplary.  One  of  his  strong  points  was  that 
good  conduct  on  the  part  of  an  enlisted  man  never  escaped  his  attention, 
and  he  mentioned  a  greater  number  of  his  men  in  battle  reports  for  distin 
guished  conduct  in  action  than  any  other  battery  commander  in  the  army. 
Another  strong  point  was  his  indefatigable  attention  to  the  physical  wants 
of  his  men.  If  supplies  were  to  be  had  at  any  hazard  Stewart's  Battery 
always  had  them.  He  would  stay  up  all  night  hunting  for  a  Commissary 
or  Quartermaster's  train  to  insure  his  men  and  horses  a  breakfast  in  the 
morning.  In  a  case  of  necessity  on  such  occasions  wo  to  the  Wagonmaster 
or  Commissary  of  Subsistence  who  stood  in  his  way  !  With  his  superior 
officers  —  corps  or  division  commanders,  such  as  Gibbon,  Eeynolds,  New 
ton,  Warren  or  Griffin,  as  the  case  might  be  —  he  was  always  a  prime 
favorite,  and  could  always  get  from  them  anything  he  wanted,  because 
they  knew  they  could  invariably  depend  on  him  implicitly  whenever  they 
wanted  him  for  any  duty,  no  matter  how  dangerous  or  desperate. 

The  detached  volunteers  of  1861  were  all  young  men,  fresh  from  the 
farms,  sawmills  and  workshops  of  New  York,  Wisconsin  and  Indiana,  who 
had  been(  accustomed  to  hard  work  for  an  honest  livelihood,  respected 
themselves,  valued  their  reputations,  had  honorable  ambitions,  were  keenly 
solicitous  about  "what  the  folks  at  home  will  say  about  us,"  and  were 
ready  to  fight  anything  on  earth  at  any  time  or  in  any  shape  ! 

Now,  it  would  have  been  easy  for  an  officer  of  tyrannical  or  overbear 
ing  temperament  to  have  stirred  the  deadly  resentment  of  these  fearless, 


26 


THE  CANNONEER. 


independent  young  fellows,  most  of  whom  would  not  brook  an  affront 
from  a  man  with  shoulder-straps  any  more  than  from  a  man  without,  and 
who  would  all  ' '  fight  at  the  drop  of  a  hat ' '  if  imposed  upon.  Fortunately, 
Stewart  was  just  the  man  to  deal  with  such  customers.  His  first  appeal 
was  always  to  a  man's  self-respect  and  sense  of  duty.  If  that  failed  he 
would  sometimes  send  the  offender  back  to  his  volunteer  regiment  with 
the  statement  that  he  "was  not  made  of  the  right  stuff"  tingling  in  his 

ears.  On  other  occasions  he  would 
endeavor  to  arouse  the  dormant 
ambition  of  the  man  by  calling  his 
attention  to  the  success  or  advance 
ment  of  some  other  fellow.  Down 
right  punishment  he  always  avoided 
to  the  last  extremity,  and  when  he 
did  inflict  it,  methods  were  used 
calculated  to  make  the  culprit 
ridiculous  without  serious  physical 
suffering ;  and  above  all,  he  avoided 
those  savage  devices  so  much  in 
vogue  with  many  company  officers, 
such  as  ' '  bucking  and  gagging, ' 7 
stringing  up  by  the  thumbs,  tying 
to  the  fifth  wheel,  etc.,  which  usually 
failed  of  their  intended  exemplary 
effect  by  exciting  the  sympathy  of 
the  other  men.  In  his  personal  in 
tercourse  with  the  men  he  was  more 
free  than  Regular  officers  usually 
are,  but  no  man  in  the  Battery,  from 
Orderly  Sergeant  down,  ever  ventured 
on  the  least  undue  familiarity  with 
him. 

It  is  notorious  that  the  volun 
teers  of  1861  and  1862  were  enor 
mously  superior,  as  a  class,  to  those 
of  any  later  period,  and  the  regiments 
of  Gibbon's  and  Patrick's  Brigades  were  extraordinarily  fine  soldiers,  even 
for  that  period.  As  Gen.  Gibbon,  assisted  by  Capt.  Campbell  and  Lieut, 
Stewart,  picked  their  men  at  the  rate  of  two,  three  or  four  from  each  com 
pany,  and  made  a  personal  selection  in  each  case,  it  will  be  seen  at  once 
that  the  Battery  became  a  corps  tf elite  of  the  most  pronounced  character.  It 
maintained  this  character  to  the  end. 

Capt.  Stewart,  in  a  letter  to  the  author,  referring  to  the  quality  of  the 
men  under  his  command  in  Battery  B,  says  : 

Just  after  the  war,  in  1866, 1  met  an  English  officer  with  whom  I  had  a 
conversation  relative  to  the  characteristics  and  merits  of  the  English  and 


CORP'L  ALONZO  PRIEST. 

(A  sample  Wisconsin  volunteer.) 


STEWART  AND  His  MEN.  27 

American  armies.  He  was  familiar  with  our  army  and  admitted  its  effective 
ness,  but  said  he  was  astonished  at  the  apparently  lax  discipline  in  the  field 
during  the  war.  I  told  him  that  in  an  army  of  volunteers,  such  as  ours  was, 
there  was  no  necessity  for  the  rigid  discipline  common  in  European  armies ; 
that  a  great  many  of  our  private  soldiers  (some  of  whom  were  in  my  Battery) 
were  young  men  of  collegiate  or  academic  education  —  well  connected,  high- 
spirited  young  fellows,  and  the  peers  of  officers  of  the  British  army  or  any 
other  in  the  world,  so  far  as  education  and  social  position  were  concerned. 
Such  men  disciplined  themselves,  set  examples  for  their  comrades,  and  also, 
when  called  on  for  dangerous  or  even  desperate  duty,  were  always  actuated 
by  pride  and  self-esteem  to  accomplish  it  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  at  whatever 
cost.  Such  men  cannot  be  treated  like  machines,  as  European  soldiers  are,  and 
it  was  not  necessary  to  hold  over  them  the  fear  of  punishment.  On  the  con 
trary,  the  hope  of  honorable  mention  of  their  names  in  battle  reports  spurred 
them  to  incredible  daring.  They  enlisted  in  the  ranks  from  patriotic  motives, 
to  "save  the  Union,"  and  not  for  pay.  They  were  the  grandest  types  of 
manhood.  Of  course,  in  commanding  such  men,  the  same  as  others,  an  officer 
had  to  maintain  certain  forms  of  intercourse  necessary  in  military  etiquet ; 
but,  aside  from  such  forms,  I  always  considered  these  men  as  my  comrades  in 
every  sense  of  the  word,  and  they  always  appreciated  and  accepted  the  situ 
ation. 

The  sentiments  expressed  by  the  Captain  in  his  conversation  with 
the  British  officer  exactly  indicate  his  feeling  toward  his  men  and  his 
method  of  dealing  with  them.  The  author  hopes  this  letter  will  dispel 
a  common  impression  that  service  in  the  Eegular  artillery  was  marked 
by  cruel  discipline  and  disagreeable  relations  between  officers  and  men. 
There  may  have  been  such  instances,  but  they  were  exceptions. 

The  Winter  of  1861-62  wras  passed  in  camp  near  Alexandria  without 
special  incident,  the  traditional  "all  quiet  on  the  Potomac"  being  varied 
only  by  incessant  drills,  target  practice,  inspections  and  reviews,  in  which 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  served  its  severe  and  thorough  apprenticeship  to 
the  trade  of  war.  Only  those  who  participated  can  appreciate  the  toils 
and  privations  involved  in  that  first  Winter  of  drill,  discipline  and  train 
ing,  laying  deep  and  broad  the  foundations  of  that  martial  character  and 
warlike  quality  which  in  after  years  made  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  what 
it  was  —  an  army  that  could  fight  more  desperately,  endure  defeat  more 
philosophically,  enjoy  victory  more  calmly  and  close  up  around  Appo- 
mattox  Courthouse  more  chivalrously  than  any  other  army  that  ever 
existed  on  the  face  of  the  earth! 

The  camp  of  a  light  battery  is  much  more  picturesque  and  imposing 
than  that  of  a  company  of  cavalry  or  infantry.  There  were  two  different 
plans  of  encampment  in  vogue  at  the  time  of  the  civil  war,  each  of  which 
had  certain  advantages,  according  to  the  lay  of  the  ground.  One  was 
known  as  the  "half-battery"  plan  of  camp;  the  other  as  the  "section" 
plan.  As  a  rule,  the  men  preferred  the  section  plan,  as  it  preserved  the 
individuality  of  the  section,  and  brought  the  horses  all  on  one  picket  line, 
which,  in  Winter  quarters,  required  the  building  of  only  one  stable; 
whereas  the  half-battery  plan  separated  the  horses  into  two  lines,  and  in 
Winter  necessitated  the  building  of  two  stables.  The  diagrams  on  next 
page  will  show  roughly  the  different  plans  of  battery  encampment. 


28 


THE  CANNONEER. 


c 

Jl 


A  A  A 


iiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiimiiMimiu 


uiiiiHUiiiiiiiifiiiiiiiiiii 


1 
I 
I 

1 
I 
I 

!j  7 

I     8 
I     • 

I 
I 

1           I 
1           1 
1           I 

SECTION  PLAN. 

1.  Officers'  cook-tent. 

2.  Captain's  tent. 

3.  Lieutenants'  tents. 
C.  Men's  cook-tents. 

4.  Men's  tents. 

5.  Horses. 

6.  Harness-poles. 

7.  Battery  wagon,  forge,  etc. 

8.  Caissons. 

9.  Guns. 

10.  Guard  tents. 

be  in  a  regimental  organi 
zation,  and  the  men  of  each 
section  liked  to  be  as  inde 
pendent  of  the  others  as  pos 
sible  in  all  affairs  pertaining 
to  the  "domestic  life"  of 
camp. 

There  was  still  another 
plan,  not  laid  down  in  the 
regulations,  but  sometimes 
resorted  to  in  the  field,  par 
ticularly  by  four-gun  bat- 


These  plans  were  some 
times  slightly  varied,  either 
as  to  space  or  arrangement, 
but  the  above  diagrams  indi 
cate  the  general  outlines  of 
all  battery  camps.  Some 
times  the  cooking  would  be 
done  for  the  whole  battery  at 
one  fire.  At  other  times  each 
half-battery  had  a  cook.  In 
Winter  quarters  the  cooking 
would  be  done  frequently  by 
section,  which  arrangement 
the  men  generally  preferred; 
in  fact,  you  would  always 
find,  particularly  in  an  old 
battery  manned  by  veterans 
who  had  seen  a  good  deal  of 
service,  that  the  individuality 
of  the  different  sections  was 
quite  as  pronounced  as  that 
of  separate  companies  would 

HALF-BATTERY  PLAN. 

A' 
JX 


in  nil's 


!r 


THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN. 


teries.  It  was  similar  to  the  camp  of  a  company  of  cavalry,  with  the 
tents  all  in  one  line,  facing  the  stables,  a  broad  street  between  them,  and 
the  gnus  and  caissons  parked  in  line,  each  caisson  resting  on  the  left  of  its 
gun  and  the  battery  wagon  and  forge  at  the  foot  of  the  company  street. 
During  the  first  campaign  of  1862  the  Battery  remained  with  King's 
Division,  of  McDowell's  Corps,  in  Northern  Virginia,  and  took  no  part  in 
the  operations  on  the  Peninsula.  The  first  shot  fired  by  the  Battery  in 

the  civil  war  was  on  the  occasion  of 
Gen.  McDowell's  occupation  of  Fred- 
ericksburg  in  May,  1862,  when  sev 
eral  batteries  were  posted  to  fire  across 
the  river  to  cover  the  preliminary 
operations  of  the  infantry. 

From  this  time  until  the  beginning 
of  Pope's  disastrous  campaign  of  the 
Second  Bull  Eun  no  event  of  interest 
happened  in  the  history  of  the  Bat 
tery,  except  the  muster  out  of  most  of 
the  remaining  "Old  Eegulars"  who 
had  enlisted  at  Fort  Leaven  worth  in 
June  and  July,  1857,  when  the  Bat 
tery  was  preparing  for  the  Utah  ex 
pedition,  and  whose  five-year  terms 
expired  at  this  time.  The  most 
prominent  of  these  was  Charles  A. 
Santmyer,  then  Orderly  Sergeant  of 
the  Battery,  who  took  his  discharge 
to  accept  a  commission  in  the  volun 
teers,  in  which  service  he  won  con 
siderable  distinction  later  in  the  war. 
He  was  succeeded  as  Orderly  Sergeant 
by  John  Mitchell,  with  whom  the 
reader  of  this  sketch  will  soon  become 
well  acquainted. 

The  old  Eegulars  discharged  at 
this  time  were  about  30  in  number. 
Their  places  were  filled  by  Charles  Hanson,  James  H.  Lewis,  William  J. 
Gleason,  John  W.  Miles,  James  Eussell  and  Amos  Burdick,  from  the  2d 
Wisconsin;  Harvey  Childs,  Sylvester  Fort,  Martin  McCandra,  John 
McLaughlin,  Jerry  Murphy,  Frank  Bell,  John  H.  Cooke,  Hiram  Whit- 
taker  and  James  L.  Barney,  of  the  6th  Wisconsin ;  Frank  Blair,  Tom 
Price,  Henry  Beecham,  Horace  Eipley,  Alphonse  Collins,  Charley  and 
John  Fulton,  Henry  G.  Klinefelter,  Johnny  Lee,  Frank  Noble,  John 
Dolphin,  Charles  Levins  and  Charles  Harris,  from  the  7th  Wisconsin,  and 
five  or  six  more  from  the  19th  Indiana,  who  were  detached  in  the  Battery 
at  diiferent  dates  from  June  to  September,  1 862. 


ANDREW  J.  BRUNT. 
(The  first  man  hit.) 


:30  THE  CANNONEER. 

The  Summer  passed  without  any  noteworthy  event  until  Aug.  26, 
when  Gibbon's  and  Hatch's  Brigades  had  a  skirmish  near  Fauquier  Sul 
phur  Springs  with  a  force  which  two  days  later  proved  to  be  the  van  of 
Stonewall  Jackson's  column  debouching  from  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  In 
this  skirmish  the  Battery  had  one  man  wounded  —  Private  Andrew  J. 
Brunt,  detached  from  the  7th  Wisconsin,  who  had  one  of  his  hands  shot 
off,  and  who  was  the  first  man  hit  in  the  Battery. 

On  the  28th  of  August  occurred  the  battle  of  Gainesville,  in  which 
the  four  regiments  of  Gibbon's  Brigade  and  two  regiments  of  Doubleday  's, 
namely,  the  2d,  6th  and  7th  Wisconsin,  19th  Indiana,  56th  Pennsylvania 
and  76th  New  York ,  aided  by  Battery  B,  sustained  the  shock  of  one  wing 
of  Jackson's  command,  composed,  according  to  Confederate  accounts,  of 
11  regiments  of  infantry  and  two  batteries,  one  of  six  and  one  of  four 

.guns.  * 

This  was  the  first  heavy  action  in  which  the  Battery  took  part.  Its 
"behavior  was  complimented  by  Gens.  Doubleday,  Hatch  and  Gibbon,  and  the 
effectiveness  of  its  fire  was  considered  remarkable  under  the  circumstances. 
On  August  30,  at  Grovetou,  the  Battery  was  again  in  action.  During 
these  operations  the  enemy  at  no  time  got  to  close  quarters,  so  that  the 
losses  were  comparatively  slight,  being  one  man  killed,  one  mortally 
wounded  and  five  more  or  less  severely  hit.  During  the  fight  at  Gaines 
ville  Lieut.  Stewart's  horse,  "Old  Tartar,"  suffered  the  loss  of  his  tail, 
and  as  he  afterward  became  one  of  the  most  famous  horses  in  the  Army 
and  will  be  frequently  mentioned,  a  brief  sketch  of  him  here  may  be  in 
teresting.  His  "biography  "  is  from  the  pen  of  Stewart  himself : 

CARTHAGE,  OHIO,  Dec.  6, 1889. 

DEAR  COMRADE  :  Yours  of  Nov.  38  at  hand.  You  ask  for  Tartar's  "  biog 
raphy."  His  military  record  is  as  follows:  He  entered  the  service  at  Fort 
Leavenworth,  Kan.,  in  July,  1857,  just  before  Battery  B  started  on  the  Utah 

•  expedition,  and  was  then  four  years  of  age. 

Before  reaching  Green  River,  Utah,  he  was  taken  sick  -with  distemper  of 
a  malignant  type,  so  we  had  to  abandon  him  when  we  left  Green  River  Camp, 
Salt  Lake.  The  following  Spring  Gen.  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  offered  $30 
apiece  for  abandoned  horses  and  mules  branded  "U.  S."  which  should  be  re 
turned  to  camp.  I  was  at  the  tent  of  Maj.  Fitz-John  Porter  one  morning  when 
two  Indians  came  in  with  a  couple  of  horses,  one  of  which  I  recognized  as 
Tartar.  They  said  they  had  found  him  the  Fall  before  on  Green  River,  and 
they  had  used  him  all  Winter  to  haul  tent-poles.  I  had  him  taken  over  to  the 
Battery,  where  Capt.  Phelps,  then  commanding,  remarked  that  "  he  had  fared 
better  with  the  Indians  than  the  other  horses  had  with  the  Battery." 

In  the  Summer  of  1860  the  guns  were  left  at  Camp  Floyd,  and  the  personnel 
of  the  Batter y  formed  into  a  provisional  company  of  cavalry,  doing  duty  in 
keeping  open  the  mail,  emigrant  and  pony  express  routes  between  Salt  Lake 
City  and  Carson  City,  Nev.  We  were  engaged  in  this  duty  from  May  to  October, 
during  which  time  Tartar's  average  work  was  from  40  to  50  miles  a  day.  Early 
in  1861  the  Battery  marched  from  Camp  Floyd,  Utah,  to  Leavenworth,  Kan., 
whence  we  were  shipped  by  rail  to  Washington  to  join  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac.  At  the  Second  Bull  Run  Tartar  was  struck  by  a  shell,  carrying  away  his 
tail,  and  wounding  both  hips  or  hams.  At  first  I  thought  I  could  not  use  him 

.any  more,  and  turned  him  into  a  small  field  or  farmyard.    The  next  morning 

vhowever,  he  jumped  the  fence  and  followed  the  Battery. 


"OLD  ABE"  AXD  "TAKTAK."  31 

Some  time  after  this  President  Lincoln  reviewed  the  army  in  front  of 
Fredericksburg,  the  First  Corps  being  then  in  camp  on  the  Belle  Plaine  Road. 
After  I  had  passed  in  review,  riding  Tartar,  I  was  sent  for,  to  allow  the  Presi 
dent  to  look  at  the  horse's  wound.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Lincoln  saw  it,  he  said  to 
the  general  officers  about  him:  "This  reminds  me  of  a  tale!"  which  he  pro 
ceeded  to  relate  to  their  great  amusement,  but  I  was  not  near  enough  to  hear 
what  it  was.  But  his  little  son  "Tad,"  mounted  on  a  pony,  followed  me  and 
insisted  on  trading  horses.  I  told  him  I  could  not  do  that,  but  he  persisted  in 
telling  me  that  his  papa  was  the  President,  and  would  give  me  any  horse  I 
wanted  in  trade  for  Tartar.  I  had  a  hard  time  to  get  away  from  the  little 
fellow. 

Tartar  was  again  wounded  at  Fredericksburg,  and  after  that  it  was  diffi 
cult  to  get  him  to  stand  under  musketry  fire.  The  day  before  we  reached 
Gettysburg  he  was  lamed  by  running  a  nail  into  one  of  his  forefeet,  and  did 
not  go  into  the  battle.  In  the  pursuit  of  Lee  after  the  battle  he  could  not  keep 
up  with  the  Battery,  and  I  left  him  with  a  farmer  on  the  road,  with  a  note 
stating  what  command  he  belonged  to,  etc.  About  a  month  afterward  a  friend 
of  mine  informed  me  that  he  had  seen  him  over  in  Kilpatrick's  Cavalry 
Division,  tied  up.  I  went  over  and  got  him.  This  was  in  August,  1863.  He 
had  no  further  mishaps,  but  served  through  the  war,  and  was,  I  understand, 
at  Appomattox  Courthouse.  When  I  was  promoted  and  transferred  to  the 
18th  Infantry,  in  1866, 1  left  Tartar  with  the  Battery,  in  the  tenth  year  of  his 
honorable  and  distinguished  service. 

JAMES  STEWART,  Captain,  TJ.  S.  A. 

In  these  battles  Battery  B,  though  performing  all  duty  required  of  it, 
by  no  means  bore  the  brunt  of  the  artillery  fighting.  Its  volunteer  com 
rades —  Monroe's  (D)  1st  Rhode  Island,  Gerrish's  1st  New  Hampshire 
and  Reynolds's  (L)  1st  New  York  —  having  been  on  the  whole  more 
closely  engaged  and  suffering  much  greater  losses. 

During  the  retreat  of  Pope's  army  Battery  B  was  with  the  rear  guard, 
and  unlimbered  for  action  at  Ox  Hill  or  Chantilly,  and  again  near  Fairfax 
Seminary,  though  not  seriously  engaged  in  either  instance,  and  suffering 
no  casualties. 

On  the  10th  of  September,  1862,  the  Army  of  Virginia  was  discon 
tinued  and  its  troops  merged  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  By  this  reor 
ganization  King's  Division,  which  had  been  the  First  Division,  Third 
Corps,  of  the  Army  of  Virginia,  became  the  First  Division,  First  Corps, 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac;  Ricketts's,  the  Second  Division;  and  the 
Division  of  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  under  Meade,  was  added  as  the  Third. 
The  command  of  the  corps  was  conferred  on  Maj.-Gen.  Joe  Hooker.  In 
the  infantry  some  changes  afterward  occurred,  among  which  was  the 
incorporation  of  Meade's  Division  of  Pennsylvania  Reserves  in  the  Fifth 
Corps  after  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg ;  but  in  the  main  the  organization 
of  the  First  Army  Corps  on  Sept.  12,  1862,  was  that  under  which  its 
renown  became  imperishable  in  our  annals.  As  for  the  rest  of  the  troops 
of  Pope's  short-lived  Army  of  Virginia,  they  were  reorganized  into  the 
Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Corps  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

The  batteries  still  remained  attached  to  divisions,  and  there  was  little 
change  in  their  assignments.  Edgell's  1st  New  Hampshire,  Reynolds's 
(L)  1st  New  York,  and  Battery  B,  remained  with  King's  Division ;  but 
Monroe's  (D)  1st  Rhode  Island  was  transferred  to  the  Ninth  Corps. 


32  THE  CANNONEEK. 

Thus  reorganized,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  took  np  its  line  of  march 
for  the  Upper  Potomac,  en  route,  as  it  proved,  to  the  battlefields  of 
South  Mountain  and  Antietam. 

The  forcing  of  the  passes  of  South  Mountain,  Sept.  14,  involved  the 
right  section  of  Battery  B,  which,  under  command  of  Lieut.  Stewart, 
advanced  with  Gibbon's  Brigade  and  effectively  shelled  a  battery  of  the 
enemy  posted  in  the  gorge  of  Turner's  Pass,  firing  over  the  heads  of  our 
infantry.  Of  this  affair  Gen.  Gibbon  says  in  his  official  report  [page  248, 
volume  XIX,  part  I,  War  Records] : 

Lieut.  Stewart  used  his  two  guns  with  good  Judgment  and  effect,  and 
begged  to  remain  upon  the  field  after  his  section  was  relieved  by  the  other 
four  pieces  of  the  Battery  under  Capt.  Campbell.  *  *  *  I  beg  to  recommend 
him  to  the  favorable  notice  of  the  authorities. 

Col.  Sol.  Meredith,  of  the  19th  Indiana,  also  says  in  his  report  [page 
250,  same  volume] : 

On  arriving  near  a  house  on  our  extreme  left,  surrounded  on  the  south 
west  and  north  by  timber,  I  discovered  large  numbers  of  the  enemy  in  and 
around  the  house.  They  had  been  annoying  us  as  well  as  the  skirmishers  by 
firing  from  the  house  and  outhouses ;  also  from  the  woods  near  the  house.  I 
ordered  Lieut.  Stewart,  who  commanded  a  section  of  Battery  B,  4th  Ar 
tillery,  to  come  forward  and  open  fire  upon  the  house.  He  moved  forward  his 
section  of  two  pieces  and  threw  several  splendid  shots,  the  first  of  which  took 
effect  in  the  upper  story,  causing  a  general  stampede  of  their  forces  from  that 
point,  enabling  us  to  go  forward  more  rapidly,  and  with  less  loss  from  their 
sharpshooters. 

The  Battery  suffered  no  loss  in  this  action  at  Turner's  Pass,  though 
Stewart's  section  was  quite  actively  engaged  for  a  considerable  time  during 
the  afternoon  of  Sept.  14.  On  the  following  day,  and  also  on  the  IGth 
of  September,  the  Battery  advanced  in  such  positions  as  were  assigned 
to  it  by  Gen.  Hooker,  commanding  the  First  Army  Corps,  but  was  not 
engaged  with  the  enemy. 

The  17th  of  September  broke  clear  and  warm  for  the  time  of  year.  Gen. 
Hooker  advanced  the  leading  brigade  of  the  First  Corps  —  Gibbon's  —  at 
daylight  down  the  Hagerstown  Pike,  toward  Sharpsburg,  to  a  point  at 
which  its  skirmishers  encountered  the  pickets  of  Stonewall  Jackson's 
Corps,  posted  generally  on  a  line  at  right  angles  to  the  pike,  through  fields 
mostly  planted  with  corn  (then  higher  than  a  man's  head),  and  extending 
from  the  "East  Wood"  to  the  "West  Wood,"  as  shown  on  the  ac 
companying  map.  Jackson  also  had  artillery  posted  close  up  to  his 
picket  line,  and  he  opened  with  it  as  soon  as  our  columns  appeared  on  the 
pike  south  of  the  Poffenberger  House.  Upon  thus  developing  the  pres 
ence  of  the  enemy  in  force,  Hooker  instantly  put  the  First  Corps  in 
motion  of  attack  by  divisions,  the  First  Division  leading.  This  division 
was  commanded  by  Gen.  Doubleday,  in  consequence  of  Gen.  John  P. 
Hatch  having  been  severely  wounded  at  Turner's  Gap,  three  days  before. 
It  consisted  of  Gibbon's  (Fourth)  Brigade  —  commonly  called  the  "Iron 
Brigade"  — composed  of  the  2d,  6th  and  7th  Wisconsin  and  19th  Indiana; 
Patrick's  (Third)  Brigade,  composed  of  the  20th,  21st,  23d  and  35th  New 


THE  ANTIETAM  COENFIELD.  33 

York;  Wainwright's  [formerly  Doubleday's]  (Second)  Brigade,  composed 
of  the  7th  Indiana,  76th  and  9oth  New  York  and  the  56th  Pennsylvania, 
and  Phelps's  (First)  Brigade,  composed  of  the  22d ,  24th  and  30th  New  York ; 
14th  Brooklyn  and  the  2d  United  States  Sharpshooters  —  and  it  advanced 
in  the  order  above  given. 

The  Divisional  Artillery,  commanded  by  Maj.  Albert  Monroe,  of  the 
1st  Rhode  Island  Light  Artillery,  consisted  of  Battery  D,  1st  Rhode  Island 
the  1st  New  Hampshire  Battery,  Capt.  Edgell ;  Battery  L,  1st  New  York, 
Capt.  John  A.  Reynolds,  and  Battery  B,  4th  Regulars,  Capt.  Joseph  B. 
Campbell  and  (after  the  latter  was  wounded  early  in  the  combat)  Lieut. 
James  Stewart. 

A  general  description  of  the  battle  of  Antietam  is  not  within  the  scope 
of  this  work.  Hence  nothing  will  be  attempted  beyond  the  action  of  the 
First  Corps  in  and  about  the  famous  "Cornfield." 

The  First  Division  led  the  attack,  the  brigades  of  Gibbon,  Patrick,, 
Phelps  and  Wainwright  striking  Jackson's  positions  in  the  Cornfield  oni 
Ijoth  sides  of  the  pike  and  extending  as  far  as  the  West  Wood.  The  enemy- 
opened  about  sunrise  from  a  battery  on  a  knoll  about  half  way  between* 
the  turnpike  and  the  East  Wood.  Gen.  Doubleday  ordered  Battery  B  to* 
shell  this  battery,  which  was  soon  silenced.  Stewart  was  now  ordered  to 
take  his  section  (the  right  section)  and  proceed  with  Gibbon's  Brigade, 
leaving  the  other  four  guns  temporarily  in  the  former  position.  Stewart 
formed  in  front  of  Dr.  Miller's  barnyard,  on  the  right  (west  side)  of  the 
pike,  looking  south,  and  within  30  or  40  yards  of  the  fence  separating  the 
Cornfield  from  the  pasture-ground.  The  tall  corn  was  full  of  the  enemy's; 
skirmishers  and  sharpshooters,  and  Stewart's  section  had  three  men  killedi 
and  11  wounded  fn  a  few  minutes,  when  Capt.  Campbell  brought  up  the 
other  four  guns  and  all  of  the  caissons  —  the  battery  then  being  equipped! 
with  12  caissons. 

Dr.  Miller's  farmhouse  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  pike,  and  the 
barnyard  and  outbuildings  attached  to  this  farmhouse  extended  some 
distance  down  the  road.  These  buildings  were  on  a  slight  knoll,  which 
descended  just  beyond  the  barns  and  strawstacks  somewhat  abruptly  into- 
the  creek  bottom  or  flat,  which  at  that  time  was  filled  on  both  sides  of 
the  pike  with  large  fields  of  tall  corn  nearly  ripe.  The  fence  along  the 
pike  was  a  low  stone  wall,  but  next  to  the  position  of  the  Battery,  and 
hardly  100  feet  in  front  of  it,  the  Cornfield  was  fenced  off  from  the  pasture 
by  a  rail  fence  quite  densely  grown  up  with  briars  and  bushes,  forming; 
a  complete  screen. 

The  Battery  was  formed  on  the  brow  of  this  knoll,  so  that  they  could 
hardly  depress  their  muzzles  enough  to  reach  the  line  of  the  fence  with  their 
canister.  From  this  fact  much  of  their  canister  went  over  the  Rebels  who> 
lay  behind  this  fence  and  rattled  harmlessly  through  the  corn  beyond. 
The  distance  from  where  the  left  gun  was  posted  to  the  nearest  part  of  the 
cover  where  the  Rebels  were  was  only  28  paces.  It  seems  almost  incredi 
ble  that  any  man  could  have  escaped  in  a  battery  working  in  an  open  field,. 
3 


34  THE  CAXNONEER. 

•with  veteran  infantry  under  dense  cover  sharpshooting  at  it  within  28  or 
:30  paces  !    Capt.  Campbell  was  hit  in  the  neck,  shoulder  and  side  almost 
.as  soon  as  he  got  into  the  position,  and  the  command  of  the  Battery  de 
volved  on  Stewart,  who  was      ,.     /      f        ,       . 
then  the  only  commissioned 
•officer  present.  The  Sergeants, 
Corporals  and  Cannoneers  fell 
in  every  direction  so  rapidly 
that  the  working  of  the  guns , 
was  seriously  impeded,  but 
the  remaining  men  filled  up 
the  gaps  as  well  as  they  could 
and  stuck  to  the  position  like 
grim  death. 

At  this  moment  Gen.  Gib 
bon  came  into  the  Battery,  and 
seeing  the  Gunner  and  No.  3; 
on  the  gun  that  was  in  thei 
road  both  shot  down  he  took ; 
charge  of  the  piece  and  acted 
as  Gunner  and  No.  3  together" 
during  several  rounds.  His 
escape  was  miraculous,  as  he 
wore  the  full  uniform  of  a  ACTING  GUNNER  JOHN  GIBBON. 

Brigadier-General,  and  the  enemy  was  so  close  that  they  could  not  help 
discerning  his  rank,  unless  the  smoke  obscured  him.  His  example  had  a 
great  effect  on  the  men,  and  became  one  of  the  cherished  traditions  of  the 
Battery. 

This  terrific  and  unequal  contest  resulted  in  the  Battery  driving  the 
enemy's  infantry  out  of  their  cover;  but,  as  the  latter  were  immediately 
reinforced,  the  Battery  was  limbered  up  and  hauled  off  without  the  loss  of 
a  single  gun  or  caisson,  though  some  of  the  guns  had  only  two  horses  left. 
They  went  into  position  again  on  another  part  of  the  field,  and  were  en 
gaged  at  other  times  during  the  day,  but  not  in  any  such  manner  as  here. 

The  casualties  of  the  Battery  in  this  part  of  the  action  were  nine  killed 
and  31  wounded,  including  Capt.  Campbell,  and  of  the  wounded  three 
afterward  died.  Thus  a  loss  of  40  killed  and  wounded  was  suffered  by  a 
battery  having  about  100  men  present  for  duty.  There  were  one  or  two 
instances  where  batteries,  which  were  run  over  and  captured  by  the  enemy, 
suffered  greater  losses,  including  prisoners;  but  there  was  no  other  case 
during  the  whole  war,  in  either  army,  where  any  battery  lost  40  men 
killed  and  wounded  in  a  square  stand-up  fight,  out  of  100  present,  and  not 
only  held  all  their  guns,  but  actually  went  into  action  with  them  again 
the  same  day  !  Among  the  killed  wTas  Serg't  Herzog,  who  was  shot 
through  the  lower  part  of  the  abdomen,  from  side  to  side.  When  taken 
back  to  the  field  hospital,  which  was  Dr.  Miller's  barn,  the  Surgeon  told 


POOR  JOE  HERZOG.  35 

him  that  his  wound  was  necessarily  fatal,  and  that  he  had  but  a  few  hours 
to  live.  Being  in  great  agony,  poor  Joe  remarked,  "If  that  is  the  case, 
Doctor,  those  few  hours  are  not  worth  living, ' '  whereupon  he  deliberately 
drew  his  revolver  and  shot  himself  through  the  right  temple. 

This  fighting  at  Antietam  settled  the  reputation  of  Stewart's  Battery 
hi  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  After  that  its  name  became  a  synonym  for 
pluck  and  resolution.  Stewart  always  showed  an  especial  affection  for  the 
boys  who  had  stood  by  him  in  that  awful  carnage,  and  the  recruits  who 
came  later  had  to  content  themselves  with  the  second  place  in  his  regard. 
This  was  a  matter  of  course,  and  Stewart  would  not  have  been  the  man  he 
was  if  he  had  failed  to  appreciate  the  heroic  devotion  of  his  veterans  of 
Antietam.  The  old  Battery  afterward  got  into  a  good  many  tough  places, 
such  as  Gettysburg,  Spottsylvania,  Bethesda  Church,  etc.,  as  will  be  seen 
later  on,  not  to  mention  Fredericksburg  and  Petersburg.  But  the  recruits 
of  1863,  even  with  Gettysburg  on  their  records,  always  took  off  their  caps 
to  the  old  Antietam  boys  whenever  there  was  a  campfire  debate  about 
prowess,  and  cordially  yielded  the  palm  to  the  iron  veterans  who  had 
braved  the  butchery  of  that  fatal  Cornfield  on  the  Sharpsburg  Pike. 

Stewart's  official  report  of  this  affair  gives  a  very  clear  idea  of  the 
nature  of  the  struggle.  It  is  also  an  admirable  specimen  of  what  a  bat 
tery  commander's  report  ought  to  be,  both  in  its  lucid  delineation  of 
events  and  its  frank  mention  of  the  services  of  the  enlisted  men.  He  says : 

I  was  ordered  by  Gen.  Gibbon  to  bring  my  section  forward  and  place  it  in 
position,  about  75  yards  distant  from  and  to  the  left  of  the  turnpike,  for  the 
purpose  of  shelling-  the  woods,  distant  from  800  to  900  yards,  directly  in  my 
front. 

After  shelling  for  some  time,  Gen.  Gibbon  ordered  the  section  to  be  still 
further  advanced  to  a  position  in  front  of  some  strawstacks,  about  30  yards  to 
the  right  of  the  turnpike.  As  soon  as  I  came  into  battery  in  this  position  I 
observed  large  bodies  of  the  enemy,  from  400  to  500  yards  distant,  and  ordered 
the  guns  to  be  loaded  with  spherical  case,  one  and  one-quarter  and  one  and 
one-half  seconds,  because  the  ground  was  undulating,  and  not  suitable  for 
canister.  After  firing  two  or  three  rounds  from  each  gun  the  enemy  partially 
broke,  ran  across  a  hollow  in  front  of  the  section,  crossed  to  the  left  of  the 
turnpike,  entered  a  cornfield,  and,  under  cover  of  the  fences  and  corn,  crept 
close  to  our  guns,  picking  off  our  Cannoneers  so  rapidly  that  in  less  than  10 
minutes  there  were  14  men  killed  and  wounded  in  the  section. 

About  this  time  Capt.  Campbell,  commanding  the  Battery,  brought  the 
other  four  guns  into  battery  on  the  left  of  my  section,  and  commenced  firing 
canister  at  the  enemy  in  the  Cornfield  on  the  left  of  the  turnpike.  In  less  than 
20  minutes  Capt.  Campbell  was  severely  wounded  in  the  shoulder,  his  horse 
shot  in  several  places,  and  the  command  of  the  Battery  devolved  upon  me. 

Gen.  Gibbon  was  in  the  Battery,  and,  seeing  the  advantage  which  the 
enemy  had,  ordered  one  of  the  guns  which  was  placed  on  the  turnpike  to  be 
used  against  the  enemy's  infantry  in  the  Cornfield,  Gen.  Gibbon  acting  both 
as  Cannoneer  and  Gunner  at  this  piece.  The  fire  was  continued  by  the  entire 
Battery  for  about  10  minutes  longer  in  this  position,  the  enemy  part  of  the 
time  being  but  15  or  20  yards  distant.  The  loss,  whilst  in  this  position,  was 
one  Captain  wounded,  three  Sergeants,  four  Corporals,  32  privates  killed  and 
wounded,  and  26  horses  killed  and  seven  wounded.  While  in  this  position  the 
Battery  was  supported  by  Gen.  Gibbon's  Brigade  and  the  20th  New  York. 

Gen.  Gibbon  ordered  me  to  limber  to  the  rear  and  place  the  Battery  in 


36  THE  CANNONEER, 

battery  in  the  same  position  my  section  first  occupied  in  the  morning.  Here  1 
found  Capt.  Ransom's  battery,  of  the  5th  Artillery,  in  position,  and  immedi 
ately  came  in  battery  on  his  left,  but  had  no  opportunity  to  use  my  guns,  as 
some  of  our  infantry  were  formed  20  yards  in  front  of  the  Battery ;  so  I  lim 
bered  up  and  followed  Capt.  Ransom's  battery  to  the  edge  of  the  woods  in 
rear,  having  my  horse  shot  under  me  in  two  places  in  less  than  two  minutes. 
Here  I  removed  my  wounded  horses  and  regulated  the  men  and  horses 
throughout  the  Battery. 

At  this  time  I  received  an  order  from  Gen.  Gibbon  to  place  the  Battery  in 
the  same  position  my  section  first  occupied  in  the  morning,  but  to  fire  to  the 
right.  I  immediately  took  a  section  to  the  point  indicated,  sending  word  to  the 
General  that  I  could  not  take  the  Battery,  as  we  had  not  men  and  horses  to 
man  the  six  pieces.  I  went  into  battery  on  the  right  of  Capt.  Reynolds's  New 
York  battery,  who  was  then  under  a  very  heavy  fire  from  two  of  the  enemy's 
batteries.  After  my  section  had  been  firing  for  some  time  part  of  Gen.  Sum- 
ner's  Corps  passed  to  the  rear  very  much  disorganized  through  the  woods 
on  the  right  of  my  section,  closely  followed  by  the  enemy.  During  this  time 
I  was  in  a  very  difficult  position,  as  the  enemy  had  ascertained  my  exact  range, 
and  I  was  utterly  unable  to  get  his  on  account  of  the  smoke  from  the  mus 
ketry.  After  carefully  viewing  the  ground  I  limbered  to  the  rear,  and  came 
in  battery  upon  Capt.  Reynolds's  left,  when  one  of  my  Cannoneers  reported  to 
me  that  the  turnpike  directly  in  my  front,  and  about  75  yards  distant,  was  full 
of  the  enemy's  infantry.  I  ordered  my  guns  to  be  loaded.  The  enemy  com 
mencing  to  fall  back  on  the  same  road,  I  waited  until  I  saw  four  stands  of  the 
enemy's  colors  directly  in  front  of  my  section,  and  then  commenced  firing  with 
canister,  which  scattered  the  enemy  in  every  direction.  I  kept  up  the  firing 
until  the  enemy  was  out  of  sight. 

In  a  few  minutes  Capt.  Clarke,  Chief  of  Gen.  Sumner's  artillery,  advised  me 
to  limber  to  the  rear  and  cross  the  plowed  field,  as  I  had  no  infantry  support, 
and  he  was  going  to  retire  his  batteries,  which  were  in  my  rear  on  the  left,  and 
the  enemy  then  advancing  on  the  left  in  force.  I  remained  in  the  plowed  field 
for  some  time,  when,  learning  that  Gen.  Gibbon  had  placed  the  other  four  guns 
of  the  Battery  in  position,  and  seeing  there  was  no  use  for  me  there,  I  joined 
them  on  an  eminence  in  rear  of  the  woods  between  1  and  2  o'clock  p.  m.,  re 
maining  there  inactive  until  5  p.  m.,  when  the  enemy  opened  from  two  bat 
teries.  I  opened  with  my  entire  Battery  on  the  nearest  battery,  which  was  on 
my  right,  and  from  800  to  900  yards  distant,  and  after  firing  two  or  three  rounds 
from  each  gun,  the  enemy  not  responding,  I  ceased  firing. 

The  behavior  of  my  men  was  all  that  could  be  desired,  but  the  men  whose 
names  are  given  below  came  under  my  immediate  observation,  and  discharged 
their  duties  with  such  calm,  cool  courage  and  discretion  that  I  would  earnestly 
request  that  their  conduct  may  be  brought  to  the  favorable  notice  of  the  Gen 
eral  commanding.  Their  names  are  as  follows :  First  Serg't  John  Mitchell, 
Serg'ts  Andrew  McBride,  William  West,  Corp'l  Frederick  A.  Chapin,  Lance 
Corp'ls  Alonzo  Priest,  Henry  G.  McDougal,  Privates  Henry  A.  Childs,  James 
Cahill,  William  Kelly,  John  B.  Lackey,  Jeremiah  Murphy,  William  Green, 
Charles  Harris  and  Elbridge  G.  Packard. 

I  desire  to  state  that  since  the  Battery  first  went  into  action,  on  the  26th  of 
August,  Benjamin  N.  Meed,  Clerk  at  headquarters  of  Gen.  Gibbon,  and  private 
belonging  to  Company  B,  6th  Wisconsin,  has  voluntarily  acted  as  Cannoneer  in 
my  section  in  each  and  every  engagement  in  which  my  section  has  partici 
pated,  and,  although  he  has  never  been  drilled  with  the  Battery,  has  rendered 
cheerful  and  very  efficient  service. 

In  this  battle  at  the  Cornfield  Battery  B  was  the  very  vortex  of  the 
fight  from  start  to  finish.  The  enemy  made  no  less  than  three  determined 
efforts  to  take  it  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  and  the  infantry  of  Gibbon's 
and  Patrick's  Brigades  rallied  to  its  support  with  equal  resolution,  the 


OUR  INFANTRY  SUPPORT.  37 

result  being,  without  donbt,  as  fierce  and  murderous  a  combat  as  ever 
surged  about  a  six-gun  battery.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  stoical 
pluck  and  desperate  courage  with  which  Campbell,  Stewart  and  their  men 
stuck  to  their  guns,  no  less  praise  is  due  to  the  devoted  infantry  of  the 
First  Division,  who  stood  by  them  through  thick  and  thin.  As  to  the 
behavior  of  the  infantry,  Gen.  Doubleday,  commanding  the  First  Division, 
states  in  his  report : 

I  stated  in  the  first  part  of  this  report  that  the  7th  Wisconsin  and  19th 
Indiana  moved  into  the  woods  to  drive  off  the  enemy,  who  were  acting  against 
our  right  flank.  This  movement  was  simultaneous  with  that  of  Patrick's  Bri 
gade,  all  crossing  the  road  and  moving  forward  into  the  woods  at  the  same 
time.  The  two  regiments  named  took  position  in  advance  of,  and  parallel  to, 
the  rest  of  Gibbon's  line.  Patrick's  three  regiments  had  scarcely  taken  posi 
tion  in  the  woods  before  a  body  of  the  enemy  appeared  on  their  right,  guard 
ing  a  battery  of  light  guns  they  had  posted  there.  Gen.  Hooker  directed  that 
one  of  Patrick's  regiments  be  sent  to  watch  this  battery,  and  the  23d  New 
York,  under  Col.  Hoffman,  was  detached  for  that  purpose.  The  two  remain 
ing  regiments,  the  21st  and  35th  New  York,  closed  up  on  the  7th  Wisconsin 
and  19th  Indiana,  and  all  moved  forward  together.  The  enemy  previous  to 
this  had  kept  up  a  brisk  fire,  but  was  sheltered  by  a  series  of  rocky  ledges, 
which  afforded  them  almost  perfect  security ;  they  poured  in  heavy  volleys  of 
musketry.  To  meet  this  increase  of  fire  Patrick's  two  regiments  were  thrown 
forward  in  the  first  line.  To  all  appearance  the  enemy  had  been  strongly  re 
inforced,  and  they  not  only  resisted  our  further  advance,  but  moved  to  try 
and  capture  Campbell's  Battery  and  regain  possession  of  the  Cornfield.  This 
charge  was  handsomely  repulsed  by  the  fire  of  the  2d  and  6th  Wisconsin, 
by  the  rapid  discharges  of  the  Battery,  which  fired  double  canisters, 
and  by  the  flank  fire  of  the  7th  Wisconsin  and  19th  Indiana,  of  Gibbon's 
Brigade,  and  the  21st  and  35th  New  York,  of  Patrick's  Brigade,  these  four 
regiments  having  taken  up  a  position  perpendicular  to  their  former  one, 
which  enabled  them  to  pour  in  a  heavy  fire  upon  the  flank  of  the  charging 
column.  Patrick  could  not  have  changed  position  in  this  way  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  but  it  was  evident  that  a  large  part  of  the  troops  that  had  been 
in  his  front  were  detached  to  aid  in  the  charge.  These  united  agencies  drove 
the  enemy  back,  saved  the  guns  and  gave  us  a  renewed  possession  of  the  Corn 
field.  Campbell's  Battery  having  lost  40  men  in  killed  and  wounded,  including 
its  commander  among  the  latter,  and  having  had  27  horses  killed,  was  no  longer 
in  a  condition  for  active  service,  and  was  compelled  to  retire  behind  the  sup 
ports  of  Sedgwick's  Division. 

Gen.  Gibbon  says : 

The  brigade  was,  by  direction  of  Maj.-Gen.  Hooker,  detached  from  the  di 
vision  and  ordered  to  advance  into  a  piece  of  wood  on  the  right  of  the  Hagers- 
town  Turnpike,  toward  the  village  of  Sharpsburg.  The  brigade  advanced  in 
column  of  divisions  on  the  left  of  the  turnpike  until  the  head  of  it  reached  an 
open  space,  when  the  6th  Wisconsin  was  deployed  and  pushed  forward  into  a 
cornfield  in  our  front,  the  2d  Wisconsin  being  deployed  and  formed  on  its  left, 
while  a  section  of  Gibbon's  Battery,  under  Lieut.  Stewart,  was  brought  into 
action  in  the  rear  to  fire  over  the  heads  of  our  men  in  reply  to  one  of  the 
enemy's  batteries  in  their  front.  The  6th  and  2d  pushed  gallantly  forward, 
supported  by  the  7th  Wisconsin  and  19th  Indiana  when,  finding  the  enemy  was 
likely  to  flank  us  on  the  right  in  the  wood,  which  extended  down  in  that  di 
rection,  I  ordered  up  Stewart's  section,  and  directed  the  7th  Wisconsin  and  19th 
Indiana  to  deploy  to  the  right  of  the  line  and  push  forward  rapidly  into  the 
woods.  The  whole  line  soon  became  hotly  engaged,  and  the  enemy,  heavily 
reinforced  from  the  woods,  made  a  dash  upon  the  Battery.  This  attack,  how- 


38  THE  CANNONEER. 

ever,  was  successfully  repelled  by  heavy  discharges  of  canister  from  the  guns, 
the  fire  of  the  few  remaining  men  of  the  2d  and  6th  Wisconsin,  and  the  flank 
fire  poured  in  by  the  7th  Wisconsin  and  19th  Indiana,  which  had  been  brought 
around  to  sweep  the  front  of  the  Battery  with  their  fire,  Capt.  Campbell  having 
in  the  meantime  joined  Stewart's  with  the  other  four  pieces  of  the  Battery. 

While  referring  to  the  regimental  reports  for  special  mention  of  meri 
torious  individuals,  I  beg  leave  to  call  attention  to  the  steadiness  and  gallantry 
of  both  officers  and  men,  and  especially  to  the  coolness  and  bravery  of  Lieut.- 
Col's  Bragg,  Bachman  and  Allen  ;  Maj.  Dawes,  Capt.  Callis  (of  the  6th  Wiscon 
sin)  and  Capt.  Campbell  and  Lieut.  Stewart,  of  Battery  B. 

Gen.  William  W.  Dudley  (who,  as  senior  Captain  of  the  regiment, 
commanded  the  gallant  19th  Indiana  after  the  death  of  Lieut. -Col.  Bach 
man,  early  in  the  action)  says  : 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  17th  instant  we  were  called  up  and  prepared 
to  go  into  action.  We  moved  directly  to  the  front  in  column  by  division.  Our 
first  casualty  occurred  in  a  peach  orchard  near  the  destined  battlefield.  We 
now  moved  to  the  edge  of  a  cornfield  near  a  stone  house,  which  was  imme 
diately  used  as  a  hospital.  Here  we  lay  down,  while  our  skirmishers  were 
scouring  the  Cornfield  in  front.  We  were  soon  ordered  to  the  right,  to  a  piece 
of  woods  which  skirted  the  battlefield  on  the  right.  Here  we  deployed  column 
and  formed  our  line  of  battle  on  the  right  of  the  7th  Wisconsin,  and  Lieut.-Col. 
Bachman  ordered  Company  B,  then  my  command,  to  deploy  forward  as  skir 
mishers.  This  being  done,  the  regiment  moved  slowly  forward  till  the  right 
was  through  the  wood,  when  we  halted.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  attempt 
was  made  to  take  Battery  B,  4th  Artillery,  which  was  stationed  at  the  straw- 
stacks  near  the  stone  house  hospital.  Upon  seeing  the  advance  of  the  enemy, 
Lieut.-Col.  Bachman  at  once  called  in  the  skirmishers,  and  changed  front  for 
ward  on  the  tenth  company,  so  as  to  front  the  left  flank  of  the  enemy.  As 
•oon  as  it  was  practicable  we  opened  fire  on  them,  and  we  have  every  reason 
to  believe  that  our  fire  was  very  effective  in  repulsing  their  attack  on  the 
Battery. 

The  action  of  the  35th  New  York  is  described  in  a  letter  to  the  author 
by  Comrade  J.  E.  Otis,  late  Orderly  Sergeant  and  Lieutenant  of  Company 
B  of  that  regiment.  He  says  : 

At  one  time  during  the  battle  the  35th  New  York  was  drawn  up  in  line  of 
battle  on  the  road  beyond  the  Miller  House.  There  was  a  heavy  rail  fence  on 
the  left  of  the  road,  opposite  our  front,  and  at  a  distance  of  something  like  150 
to  200  yards  was  the  celebrated  Cornfield.  Gibbon's  battery  of  six  brass  pieces 
was  to  our  left,  between  the  buildings  and  on  a  level  with  the  front  part  of  the 
Cornfield.  At  this  time  we  were  receiving  some  casualties  from  front  and  flank, 
and  firing  at  will  into  the  Cornfield.  I  remember  that  the  Rebels  were  resting 
their  guns  on  the  straight  rail  and  post  fence,  and  just  busy  picking  off  Gib 
bon's  Gunners.  I  think  I  am  correct  in  saying  that  two  of  the  pieces  next  the 
building  were  abandoned,  but  covered  by  the  fire  of  the  next  two,  which  were 
so  feebly  manned  that  their  guns  were  not  pushed  back.  At  this  point  in  the 
engagement  the  35th  made  a  charge  into  the  Cornfield  and  captured  a  color  and 
quite  a  batch  of  prisoners,  and  saved  Gibbon's  guns.  It  was  understood  at  the 
time  that  Col.  Lord  sent  due  acknowledgment  for  this  very  opportune  act,  but 
it  never  went  further  than  acknowledgments. 

Comrade  Henry  G.  Klinefelter,  now  residing  at  Nora,  Wis.,  and  who 
served  in  the  Battery  as  a  detached  volunteer  from  the  7th  Wisconsin, 
writes  to  the  author  as  follows  : 

The  position  of  the  Battery  was  to  the  right  of  the  road  as  we  faced  the 
enemy.  One  piece  was  in  the  road  (the  Sharpsburg  Pike.)  It  was  right  on  the 
brow  of  a  little  ridge,  close  to  some  buildings.  I  was  No.  1  Cannoneer  on  the 


HORACE  RIPLEY'S  "FIRST  DRILL."  39 

gun  in  the  road.  There  was  a  straight  rail  fence  in  front.  The  buildings  were 
to  our  right  and  rear.  I  think  the  Cornfield  came  up  to  the  road  to  our  left. 
It  was  here  that  Stonewall  Jackson's  troops  made  three  desperate  charges  to 
capture  the  Battery,  and  the  last  time  came  within  about  four  rods  of  our  guns 
before  we  could  stop  them,  and  when  Gen.  Gibbon  saw  that  we  had  checked 
them  he  ordered  his  brigade  (Iron  Brigade)  to  charge  them,  and  I  claim  that  it 
was  the  Iron  Brigade  (which  was  right  there  with  us  all  of  the  time)  and  the 
courage  and  desperate  work  of  the  Battery  boys  that  saved  the  guns.  The 
two  guns  on  the  right  were  silenced  for  a  few  minutes,  but  not  until  nearly  all 
of  the  men  were  shot  down,  and  two  of  the  boys  had  crawled  on  their  hands 
and  knees  several  times  from  the  limber  to  the  piece  and  loaded  and  fired 
those  guns  in  that  way  until  they  had  recoiled  so  far  that  they  could  not  use 
them  any  more.  Not  until  then  were  they  entirely  silenced.  The  rest  of  the 
gvins  were  well  handled.  At  my  gun  there  were  only  four  of  us  left,  but 
we  were  helped  by  the  inf antr,y  boys  of  the  6th  and  7th  Wisconsin.  During 
the  thickest  of  the  fight  Gen.  Gibbon  came  up  to  my  gun  and  straddled  the 

trail  and  sighted  the  gun,  and  said  "  Give  them boys !  "    *    *    * 

So  far  as  I  can  remember,  only  one  New  York  regiment  came  in  line  with 
our  Battery  at  the  Cornfield.  This  was  the  30th  New  York,  which  came  in  on 
the  right  of  the  road.  It  was  said  at  the  time  that  Gen.  Gibbon  sent  to  Gen. 
Patrick  for  help,  as  the  whole  battle  on  that  part  of  the  line  was  centering 
right  on  his  (Gibbon's)  Battery,  and  Gen.  Patrick  sent  the  20th  New  York. 
This  was  the  only  New  York  regiment  that  we  saw.  The  35th  was  in  Patrick's 
Brigade,  and  also  the  21st  and  23d  —  all  good  men  —  and  we  had  men  in  the  Bat 
tery  from  all  of  those  regiments. 

As  a  sample  of  the  experience  which  a  "detached  volunteer"  was 
likely  to  undergo  in  a  Regular  battery,  a  characteristic  letter  from  Com 
rade  Horace  Ripley  will  be  instructive  and  amusing.  Horace  was  a 
"broth  of  a  boy."  He  was  detached  from  Company  B,  7th  Wisconsin, 
Sept.  12,  1862,  and  joined  the  Battery  on  the  morning  of  the  13th,  the 
day  before  South  Mountain.  Not  being  assigned  to  the  section  engaged  in 
that  battle,  he  had  a  day  or  two  to  familiarize  himself  with  the  duties  of 
an  artilleryman.  But  let  him  tell  his  story  in  his  own  way.  He  says : 

When  I  reported  to  the  Battery  they  put  me  on  the  caisson  of  Packard's 
gun  as  supernumerary.  This  was  Sept.  13, 1862.  The  battle  of  South  Mountain 
was  the  next  day,  and  it  so  happened,  between  marching  and  fighting,  that 
there  was  no  battery  drill  of  any  description  between  the  date  of  my  joining 
the  Battery  and  the  terrible  struggle  at  the  Antietam  Cornfield.  At  that  time 
I  was  still  supernumerary.  When  the  Battery  went  into  action  in  the  early 
morning  of  Sept.  17  it  was  literally  my  first  "battery  drill."  The  closest 
investigation  will  show  that  I  was  never  absent  from  duty  one  day  from  the 
time  I  joined,  Sept.  13, 1862,  until  my  time  was  out,  Sept.  1, 1864.  When  Pack 
ard's  gun  first  went  into  action  on  the  Sharpsburg  Pike  below  the  Miller 
House  in  the  morning  I  was  employed  as  a  hitching-post  for  the  Sergeant's 
horse.  Very  soon  after  the  difficulty  began  the  Sergeant  (West)  was  hit  in 
the  thigh,  and  I  helped  him  back  to  the  Miller  barn,  which  was  the  field 
hospital.  Returning  to  the  Battery  I  had  two  horses  to  hold.  One  of  them 
was  soon  hit  in  the  flank  and  fell  down,  dying.  In  a  moment  the  other  one 
had  his  bits  completely  shot  out  of  his  mouth,  carrying  away  his  whole 
under  jaw,  so  that  the  Corporal  blew  his  brains  out  to  put  him  out  of  his 
misery ! 

By  that  time  the  Johnnies  had  made  room  for  me  at  our  piece,  so  I  left  the 
horses  and  went  in  as  Cannoneer  on  Packard's  gun,  beginning  by  acting  Nos. 
5  and  7,  carrying  ammunition  from  the  limber  to  the  gun.  The  slaughter  at 
our  gun  continued  until  Packard  and  I  were  the  only  men  left  standing,  when 


40 


THE  CANNONEER. 


some  of  the  7th  Wisconsin  came  in  to  help  us.  At  this  time  Packard  was  act. 
ing  Sergeant,  Gunner  and  Nos.  3  and  4  on  that  piece.  We  both  got  out  of  that 
•fight  unharmed,  and  after  that  we  were  bunk  mates  until  he  received  his  death 
-wound  at  the  North  Anna  River  on  the  25th  of  May,  1864,  nearly  30  months 
afterward.  He  was  one  of  the  most  fearless  men  that  I  have  ever  known. 

This  dreadful  butchery  at  the  Antietam  Cornfield  marked  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  old  Battery.  Prior  to  that  time  its  career  had  been, 
with  the  exception  of  its  comparatively  bloodless  service  at  Gainesville 
and  Groveton,  a  career  of  discipline  only,  and  that  sometimes  harsh  and 
drastic.  Capt.  Campbell  was  an  officer  of  high  scientific  attainments  in 


I. 


DIAGRAM  OF  THE  POSITION  AT  THE  CORNFIELD. 

his  profession  and  of  the  most  heroic  courage.  The  men  admired  Capt. 
Campbell  and  respected  him.  But  it  is  doubtful  if  he  could  ever  have 
got  the  work  out  of  them  that  Stewart  did  ;  because,  with  all  his  accom 
plishments  as  an  officer,  Capt.  Campbell  never  succeeded  in  getting  the 
affections  of  the  men. 

Stewart,  with  his  good-natured  methods  of  personal  intercourse,  his 
quick  discernment  of  merit  and  cordial  acknowledgment  of  it,  and  his  con- 


REVIEW  OF  ANTIETAM.  41 

stant  contact  and  conversation  with  the  soldiers,  had,  to  a  degree  perhaps 
unequalled  in  the  whole  Eegular  Army,  the  rare  tact  of  making  his 
enlisted  men  feel  that  he  and  they  were  comrades,  without  weakening  his 
prestige  as  commander.  It  must  not  be  imagined  that  Stewart,  as  a  dis 
ciplinarian,  was  weak  or  lax.  On  the  contrary,  he  could  be  —  and  was  so 
when  occasion  required — severe  and  harsh.  But  he  always  knew  where 
to  draw  the  line. 

The  battle  of  Antietam,  as  a  whole,  and  its  general  results,  have  often 
been  described  and  analyzed  by  abler  writers.  It  is  doubtless  the  general 
verdict  of  history  that  the  results  achieved  were  neither  adequate  to  the 
opportunity  nor  worthy  of  the  heroic  devotion  of  the  subordinate  officers 
and  the  rank  and  file  who  fought  Gen.  McClellan's  battle  for  him. 

Without  going  into  details  of  tactics  or  attempting  to  analyze  strat 
egy  ,  it  will  suffice  the  present  purpose  to  show  by  the  conclusive  evidence 
of  official  statistics  how  each  commander-in-chief  handled  the  forces  at  his 
disposal.  The  usual  difficulty  of  accurately  estimating  the  Confederate 
force  actually  "effective  present "  occurs  in  this  case.  But  the  most  trust 
worthy  accounts  (from  Confederate  sources)  converge  on  a  total  of  40,000 
infantry  and  artillery,  with  perhaps  between  5,000  and  6,000  cavalry,  or 
roundly  45, 000  of  all  arms. 

Gen.  MeClellan  reports  the  "present  for  duty  equipped"  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  at  any  time  between  Sept.  10  and  Sept.  17,  as  follows : 

Strength.  Loss. 

First  Corps 14,856  2,590 

Second  Corps 18,813  5,138 

Fifth  Corps 12,930  109 

Sixth  Corps.... 12,300  439 

Ninth  Corps 13,819  2,349 

Twelfth  Corps 10,126  1,746 

Cavalry 4,320  30 


Total 87,164  12,401 

This  table  indicates  beyond  dispute  that  the  battle  was  fought  on  the 
Union  side  by  the  First,  Second,  Ninth  and  Twelfth  Corps,  aggregating 
57,614,  or  not  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  effective  force  available,  and 
that  their  loss  was  11, 823 ,  or  nineteen-twentieths  of  the  total.  The  author 
leaves  to  soldiers  of  better  military  education,  wider  experience  and  more 
exalted  rank,  the  task  of  deducing  from  these  and  cognate  facts  what 
might  have  been  the  result  if  MeClellan  had  used  all  his  available  force,  as 
Lee  certainly  did  his,  and  had  followed  up  the  shocks  of  the  First,  Second, 
Ninth  and  Twelfth  Corps  with  the  magnificent  veterans  of  the  Fifth  and 
Sixth  Corps,  who,  25,000  strong,  intact  and  fresh,  were  themselves  almost 
equal  to  what  was  left  of  the  Confederate  Army  available  after  the  battle 
of  the  forenoon. 

Surg.-Gen.  Guild,  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  gives  the  losses 
of  that  army  in  killed  and  wounded  alone  at  10,291.  But  this  embraces 
the  whole  period  from  Sept.  14  (South  Mountain)  to  Sept.  19  (Shepherds- 
town  Ford),  inclusive.  So  it  is  not  possible  to  separate  accurately  the 


42  THE  CANNONEER. 

casualties  of  Antietam  proper.  None  of  the  Confederate  reports  give  any 
account  of  their  loss  in  prisoners.  Our  own  accounts  state  about  980  cap 
tures  bf  Confederate  prisoners,  mainly  at  South  Mountain,  while  the  total 
loss  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  prisoners  was  as  follows  in  the  whole 
campaign  : 

Crampton's  Pass —      2 

Turner's  Pass 85 

Antietam 746 

Total 833 

The  battle  of  Antietam  has  always  been  considered  remarkable  for  the 
small  proportion  of  captures  to  the  other  casualties.  The  meaning  of  this 
fact  is  plain  to  any  soldier.  Prisoners  are  taken  by  manuvers,  flank  move 
ments,  surprises,  etc.  The  fact  that  so  few  were  taken  at  Antietam  indi 
cates  that  it  was  a  slugging  match  pure  and  simple  —  which  in  fact  it 
was — to  a  greater  extent  than  any  other  battle  between  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  and  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 

The  percentage  of  killed  to  wounded  was  also  larger  than  in  any  other 
general  engagement,  being  for  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  2,108  killed  to 
9,549  wounded ,  and  in  the  Confederate  Army  1,567  killed  to  8,724  wounded. 
The  loss  in  the  Battery  was  as  follows  : 

KILLED. 

Sergeant— Joseph  Herzog.  Privates— John  Anderson, 

Corporal— John  Brown.  Henry  Lyons, 

Privates— Martin  McCandra,  Hiram  Whitaker, 

Henry  Brown,  Sylvester  Fort, 

Smith  Young. 

WOUNDED. 

Captain— Joseph  B.  Campbell.  Privates— Timothy  Dean, 

Sergeants— William  West,  John  Fillmore, 

Robert  Moore.  John  Holland, 

Bugler— Johnny  Cook.  John  Hodgedon, 
Corporals—  •       —  Willsey,  —  Hill, 

Benjamin,  John  W.  Jones, 

Conners.  George  Johnson, 

Privates —  Ames,  John  Lee, 

James  Armstrong,  William  Maffitt, 

Brennan,  William  J.  Moore, 

Bishop,  Robert  McAllone, 

Brownlee,  —  Malson, 

Burdick,  Frank  Noble, 

James  Clarke,  Edward  O'Brien, 

Henry  Colby,  Arthur  Stedman, 

Harvey  Childs,  James  Thorpe, 

William  Dickinson,  Claus  Young, 
Isaac  Sowerwin. 

Of  the  wounded,  Brennan,  Hodgedon  and  Hill  died.  There  were  also 
four  men  wounded  in  the  Battery  who  belonged  to  the  7th  Wisconsin, 
and  were  not  accounted  for  in  our  casualty  returns. 

The  only  other  batteries  in  the  Army  suffering  heavy  losses  were 
Tompkins's  (A)  1st  Rhode  Island,  belonging  to  the  Second  Corps,  and 


NEW  DETACHED  VOLUNTEERS.  43 

Monroe's  (D)  1st  Rhode  Island,  brigaded  with  Battery  B.  They  were 
both  heavily  and  closely  engaged,  and  lost  19  and  18  respectively.  It  was 
not  generally  thought  that  McClellan  made  the  best  possible  use  of  his 
artillery  in  the  battle.  He  had  48  batteries,  besides  the  four  horse- 
batteries  with  the  cavalry,  but  only  five  or  six  of  them  were  used  with 
any  great  effect,  though  all  were  in  a  high  state  of  efficiency  and  anxious, 
to  fight. 

The  frightful  gaps  that  Antietam  had  made  in  the  ranks  of  the  Bat 
tery  were  never  refilled  —  at  least  not  up  to  the  complement  it  had  before. 
Of  the  wounded  a  few  returned  at  intervals  for  several  months  afterward, 
but  there  was  a  permanent  loss  of  killed  or  totally  disabled,  amounting  to 
over  30,  and  most  of  these  were  among  the  best  men  the  Battery  ever 
had.  Their  places  were  taken  by  Bart.  Fagan  and  Dan  Shemmell,  from 
the  2d  Wisconsin;  John  Finley,  Pete  Smith,  Charley  Sprague,  Job  Driggs 
and  Den.  Fuller,  from  the  6th  Wisconsin;  Dan  Ackerman,  John  Small, 
Pat  Wallace,  Wesley  Richardson,  Jim  Moore,  and  one  or  two  others,  from 
the  7th  Wisconsin,  and  Joe  Anderson,  Dan  Blaine,  Dave  Drummond, 
Perry  Rowe,  Daniel  Kingfield,  Ranse  McDaniel,  and  perhaps  one  or  two 
others,  from  the  19th  Indiana  —  or  about  20  in  all.  With  these  accessions 
the  strength  of  the  Battery  was  brought  up  to  about  112,  which  was  still 
a  short  complement  for  a  six-gun  battery  equipped  with  double  caissons, 
and  therefore  requiring  nine  drivers  to  each  piece,  besides  the  drivers  on 
the  battery  wagon,  forge,  etc. 

Thus  equipped,  the  Battery  followed  the  fortunes  of  the  First  Corps 
during  the  various  marches  by  which  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was 
moved  from  the  banks  of  the  Upper  Potomac,  at  Shepherdstown,  to  those  of 
the  Lower  Rappahannock,  opposite  Fredericksburg.  The  most  noteworthy 
incident  in  its  history  during  this  period  was  the  assignment  of  a  Second 
Lieutenant  of  the  3d  Regulars,  named  James  Davison,  to  service  with  it, 
Stewart  having  been  since  Antietam  the  only  commissioned  officer  present. 
Like  Stewart,  he  had  risen  by  hard  work,  faithful  service  and  sterling. 
merit  from  the  ranks  of  the  old  Regular  Army.  He  had  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  1854,  and  had  served  in  every  grade  up  to  July,  1862,  when  he- 
was  promoted  1o  be  Second  Lieutenant,  at  the  personal  request  of  Gen. 
Henry  J.  Hunt,  from  the  position  of  Sergeant-Major  of  the  Artillery  Re 
serve.  Davi son's  character  as  a  man  and  his  excellence  as  an  officer  will 
become  apparent  in  subsequent  pages.  At  this  point  suffice  to  say  that 
his  popularity  with  the  men  was  of  quick  growth. 


CHAPTER  III. 


FREDERICKSBURG —  SULLEN  APATHY  OF  THE  TROOPS  —  USELESS  DE 
VOTION  AND  HOPELESS  COURAGE — "  PUBLIC  OPINION  "  IN  THE 
ARMY — THE  AUTHOR  JOINS  —  CHANCELLORSVILLE — HOOKER'S 
"  GOOD  PLANNING  AND  POOR  FIGHTING  "  —  SPLENDID  CONDUCT  OF 
ARTILLERY  —  SEELEY'S  BATTERY  —  STEVENS'S  BATTERY  —  AN 
OTHER  REPULSE — WRATH  OF  THE  TROOPS  —  CAMPFIRE  FESTIVI 
TIES — THE  AUTHOR  KNOCKED  OUT — WE  PREPARE  FOR  GETTYS 
BURG- 


REDERICKSBURG  is  not  a  pleasant 
topic  to  a  Union  soldier.  The  part  which 
Battery  B  took  in  it  was  creditable  to  the 
officers  and  men  engaged,  but  the  greenest 
laurels  wither  in  the  cold  shadow  of  such  a 
miserable  disaster  as  that  battle  was,  and 
for  that  reason  its  description  here  will  be 
brief.  Fredericksburg  was  the  Gethse- 
mane  of  the  Union  cause,  and  its  battle 
field  was  the  Golgotha  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  In  a  personal  sense  the 
wretched  butchery  of  that  ill-fated  13th 
of  December  cost  the  writer  a  gallant 
relative,  Serg't  Sam  Buell,  of  Battery  E, 
4th  Regulars.  Fickle  as  is  the  fortune  of 
war,  it  has  always  seemed  that  the  butchery  of  Fredericksburg  transcended 
even  the  scope  of  that  apology,  and  that  the  unfortunate  men  wrho  shed 
their  blood  there  had  less  glory  to  assuage  their  pangs  than  the  victims  of 
any  other  battle  known  to  civilized  history. 

It  has  already  been  remarked  that  the  scope  of  this  volume  does  not 
contemplate  exhaustive  details  of  battles,  but  is  confined  to  such  mention 
of  the  action  of  co-operating  or  supporting  forces  as  may  be  necessary  to  a 
clear  understanding  of  the  operations  of  the  Battery  itself.  It  often  hap 
pened,  as  at  Antietam,  already  related,  or  in  later  battles,  as  will  appear  in 
subsequent  pages,  that  the  Battery  was  involved  in  the  vortex  of  battle  at 
points  of  vital  importance,  and  thereby  became  the  focus  of  combat  to  an 
<extent  requiring  considerable  reference  to  other  organizations;  but  Fred- 


BURNSIDE'S  TRAGEDY.  45* 

ericksburg  was  hardly  one  of  these  instances.     In  general,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  effective  present  tor  duty  equipped  of  infantry  and  artillery  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  was  greater  at  Fredericksburg  than  in  any  other 
battle  of  the  war.     The  force  was  114 ,000  men  and  66  batteries ,  aggregating 
352  guns,  or  44  six-gun  and  22  four-gun  batteries.     The  same  was  true  of 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  w^hich  had,  according  to  the  field  return 
of  Dec.  10 , 1862 ,  78 ,800  men  and  272  guns.     It  is  hardly  necessary  to  speak 
of  the  respective  morale  of  the  two  forces.     At  no  time  during  the  sad  and 
tragic  history  of  its  first  two  years  had  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  less 
reason  to  put  its  trust  in  the  God  of  Battles  or  more  reason  to  doubt  the 
omens  of  the  fortunes  of  war  than  now.     Its  commander  was  a  man  of  fine 
personal  appearance,  resonant  general  orders,  windy  proclamations,  little 
military  prestige,  and ,  if  possible ,  less  sense,  destitute  alike  of  the  respect 
of  his  subordinate  officers  and  of  the  confidence  of  his  men.     Such  facts - 
could  not  be  concealed  from  men  of  such  average  intelligence  and  discern 
ment  as  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Potomac  Army.     The  result  was  that  the 
great  host  crossed  the  Rappahaimock  in  a  mood  of  sullen  apathy  to  danger 
and  assaulted  an  exultant  enemy  behind  impregnable  works  with  a  dogged 
indifference  to  consequences  which  warlike  history  may  be  searched  in  vain, 
to  find  a  parallel  for.     Of  the  magnificent  and  hitherto  unprecedented, 
artillery  force  present,  about  200  guns  were  left  on  the  north  bank  of  the- 
river  to  pound  vainly  at  ridiculous  ranges  upon  an  enemy  either  securely 
sheltered  by  his  own  works  or  masked  by  the  near  approach  of  our 
assaulting  columns.     Of  the  140-odd  guns  that  crossed  with  the  infantry, 
more  than  half  were  jammed  up  in  the  streets  of  Fredericksburg,  whence 
they  could  be  extricated  only  by  hauling  them  back  again  in  silence  to  the 
north  bank,  where  the  only  compensation  for  their  uselessness  was  their 
safety.     So  far  as  actual  fighting  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  is  concerned,, 
it  appears  that  only  about  16  batteries,  aggregating  82  guns,  were  engaged, 
and  of  these  only  eight  were  in  position  to  be  perceptibly  effective  or  in 
serious  danger  themselves.    These  were  Hazard's  (B)  1st  Rhode  Island  and 
Egan's  (E)  4th  Regulars,  belonging  to  the  Second  Corps  ;  Edgell's  1st  New 
Hampshire,  Stewart's  (B)  4th  Regulars  and  Hall's  2d  Maine,  of  the  First 
Corps,  with  Simpson's  (A)  and  Amsden's  (G)  1st  Pennsylvania,  attached  to- 
Meade's  Division,  and  Butler's  (G),  of  the  2d  Regulars,  belonging  to  the 
Sixth  Corps.     It  is  hardly  necessary  to  enlarge  on  this  proposition.     The 
grand  total   of   artillery  losses  for  the  whole  66  batteries  present  at 
Fredericksburg  was  176,  of  which  the  eight  above  mentioned  lost  101,  as 
follows  : 

Hazard's  (B)  1st  Rhode  Island 16 

Egan's  (E)  4th  Regulars ..13 

Edgell's  1st  New  Hampshire 16 

Stewart's  (B)  4th  Regulars 10-(8). 

Hall's  2d  Maine 15 

Simpson's  (A)  1st  Pennsylvania 12 

Amsden's  (G)  1st  Pennsylvania 9 

Butler's  (G)  2d  Regulars 10 


46  THE  CAXXOXEEK. 

Of  the  other  58  batteries  only  19  were  sufficiently  in  action  to 
"show  blood,"  and  these  lost  altogether  75  men.  It  remains  to  be  said 
that  every  battery  which  got  a  chance  at  the  enemy  acquitted  itself  with 
•credit,  and  the  work  done  by  Hazard,  Egan  and  Hall  was  particularly 
brilliant. 

We  had  two  men  killed  outright  —  Hartley  Fagan,  from  the  2d  Wis 
consin,  and  Patrick  Hogan,  Regular.  Of  the  wounded,  three  lost  limbs, 
and  one  of  them  —  John  Johnson,  from  the  2d  Wisconsin — had  his  right 
arm  torn  off  at  the  shoulder  by  a  solid  shot,  which  carried  away  so  much 
of  the  shoulder  that  the  cavity  of  the  body  was  exposed  and  the  tissue  of 
the  lung  plainly  visible  through  the  hole.  The  medical  and  surgical 
reports  say  that  this  wound,  taking  into  account  the  nature  of  the  shock 
and  the  subsequent  exposure  of  the  vital  organs — several  hours  elapsing 
before  the  wound  could  be  properly  dressed — was  almost  necessarily  fatal, 
and  that  Johnson's  recovery  was  literally  miraculous.  But  he  did  recover, 
and  is  very  much  alive  at  this  writing,  being  an  able  and  efficient  Clerk  in 
the  Register's  Office  of  the  Treasury,  having  learned  to  write  rapidly  and 
excellently  with  his  left  hand.  "  Johnny,"  as  the  boys  used  to  call  him, 
was  a  Norwegian  boy  of  about  18  or  19  years  when  wounded.  His  race 
is  noted  for  invariable  courage,  fortitude  and  endurance.  The  way  he 
stood  up  under  this  terrible  wound  caused  his  name  to  be  cherished  by 
his  comrades  in  the  Battery  as  an  example  of  "  grit "  and  nerve.  William 
Hogarty,  from  the  23d  New  York,  lost  his  left  arm. 

During  the  14th  and  until  after  dark  of  the  15th  of  December  all  the 
batteries  remained  substantially  in  the  positions  they  occupied  at  the  close 
of  Saturday's  battle.  It  being  deemed  important  to  hold  the  crossroads 
where  Stewart  was  posted,  the  Battery  was  directed  to  remain  there,  which 
Avas  practically  an  artillery  picket,  as  its  only  support  was  our  own  picket- 
line,  while  the  enemy  advanced  his  pickets  to  within  200  or  250  yards  of 
our  muzzles.  During  the  day,  Sunday  and  also  Monday,  these  pickets  were 
drawn  back,  to  be  advanced  again  at  night.  But  there  was  little  or  no 
sharpshootiug,  and  during  Sunday  afternoon  there  was  an  informal  truce 
for  a  couple  of  hours,  during  which  time  the  wounded  remaining  between 
the  lines  were  collected  and  the  dead  buried — at  least  on  that  front. 
During  this  period  the  men  of  the  two  armies  mingled  freely,  and  our 
boys  were  informed  that  the  battery  they  had  handled  so  roughly — blow 
ing  up  a  caisson,  dismounting  one  of  their  guns  and  driving  the  rest  out 
of  position  —  was  one  of  the  celebrated  batteries  of  the  Washington  Artil 
lery  of  New  Orleans.  As  soon  as  it  was  dark  Monday  night  orders  came 
to  withdraw  to  the  north  side  of  the  river.  This  was  an  easy  task  for  the 
other  batteries  of  the  corps,  as  they  were  considerably  to  the  rear  and  pro 
tected  by  the  main  body  of  the  infantry.  But  Stewart  had  no  infantry  in 
his  front  except  the  enemy's  pickets,  and  none  in  immediate  supporting 
distance  of  him  except  our  own  pickets,  whose  line  was  that  of  the  road 
in  which  the  guns  stood  in  battery.  Hence  it  was  difficult  to  withdraw 
the  guns  without  attracting  attention,  which,  without  doubt,  would  have 


Ox  THE  PICKET  LIXE. 


-17 


THE  RECONXOISSANCE. 


been  the  signal  for  a  rush  on  their  part  to  take  the  guns.  Careful  recon- 
noissance  from  our  line,  conducted  by  Lieut.  Davison,  Serg't  Mitchell, 
Corp'l  Murphy  and  Private  John  Lackey,  who  crawled  out  considerable 
distances  to  the  front  just  after  dark, 
developed  the  fact  that  the  enemy's 
pickets  were  within  500  feet  of  the 
guns,  and  that  their  picket  line  was 
really  a  heavy  skirmish  force,  from 
which  a  rush  was  to  be  apprehended 
if  they  should  detect  signs  of  retreat 
on  our  part.  Under  these  circum 
stances,  the  guns  were  limbered  as 
silently  as  possible  and  hauled  off, 
still  shotted  with  double  canister  and 
primed  ready  for  action  if  the  enemy 
should  attempt  a  rush. 

This  little  affair  was  considered  by 
Gen.  Wainwright,  Chief  of  Artillery 
of  the  First  Corps,  to  be  of  sufficient 
importance  to  warrant  the  following 
credit  in  his  official  report: 

Soon  after  8  o'clock  on  Monday  night,  in  accordance  with  your  orders,  I 
commenced  withdrawing  the  batteries  along  our  line,  beginning  with  Lieut. 
Stewart's,  which  was  the  most  exposed,  being  within  200  yards  of  the  enemy's 
pickets.  This  and  all  the  others  were  got  off  without  any  disturbance,  and  be 
fore  11  o'clock  they  were  safely  on  this  side  of  the  river,  without,  so  far  as  I 
can  learn,  leaving  a  serviceable^  harness  strap  behind.  With  hardly  an  ex 
ception,  the  officers  and  men  executed  this  delicate  movement  to  perfection. 
Stewart's  Battery  a  being  most  exposed,  deserves  especial  praise  for  the  noise- 
lessness  with  which  they  brought  off  their  guns  and  caissons. 

The  enlisted  men  mentioned  by  Stewart  for  conspicuous  conduct  at 
Fredericksburg  were  Mitchell,  McBride,  Chapin,  Cahill,  Jimmy  Maher, 
Priest,  McDougall,  Murphy,  Ned  Armstrong,  Ed.  Thorpe,  John  Lackey 
and  John  Sanborn. 

After  this  disastrous  battle  the  Battery  returned  to  camp  on  the  Belle 
Plaine  Road,  where  it  remained  without  incident  of  note  during  the  re 
mainder  of  the  gloomy  Winter  of  1862-63.  Private  William  Hogarty, 
who  had  lost  his  left  arm  at  Fredericksburg,  was  promoted  to  be  Second 
Lieutenant  in  the  Veteran  Reserve  Corps,  and  Corp'l  Ira  Slawson  received 
a  commission  in  the  New  York  Volunteers.  Both  these  young  men  were 
detached  volunteers  from  the  23d  New  York,  and  had  served  with  the 
Battery  since  October,  1861.  Along  in  February,  1863,  Stewart  ascer 
tained  that  the  two-year  men  from  the  New  York  regiments,  whose  time 
would  expire  early  in  May,  were  not  disposed  to  re-enlist.  As  there  were 
about  40  of  them  in  the  Battery  it  would  be  necessary  to  fill  their  places. 
It  was  probable  that  active  operations  would  be  in  progress  again  about 
the  time  when  their  terms  would  expire.  Hence  Stewart  thought  it 
would  be  better  to  let  them  go  then  and  get  three-year  men  in  their 


48  THE  CANNONEER. 

places  in  time  to  drill  the  latter,  rather  than  wait  to  "swap  horses  crossing 
the  stream."  So  he  sent  the  two-year  men  back  to  their  regiments  and 
filled  their  places  with  17  recruits  from  the  7th  Wisconsin,  22  from  the 
24th  Michigan,  which  had  recently  joined  the  Iron  Brigade,  together  with 
six  three-year  New  Yorkers. 

The  men  from  the  7th  Wisconsin  in  this  detachment  were :  Dave 
Smith,  Andy  Wilkinson,  Cockrell  Scott,  Jim  Rogers,  Henry  Jessee,  Hugh 
Evans,  Fred.  Barbour,  George  Smith,  John  Johnson,  James  Black,  Ahaz 
Thurston,  Winfield  S.  Williams,  Lucius  Marshall,  Billy  Hinman,  Rufe 
Hodgeman,  George  W.  Barhydt  and  Horace  Ellis.  From  the  24th  Michi 
gan  came  Theodore  Bache,  Lyman  Blakeley,  Henry  Brown,  Anthony 
Eberts,  William  Funke,  Ed.  Gore,  Theo.  Grover,  James  Gunsollis,  John 
Happey,  Billy  Irving,  Frank  Kellogg,  John  McDermott,  Robert  Morris, 
George  Oakley,  John  Orth,  John  Patten,  Charles  Patten,  Robert  Reed, 
Will  Robinson,  Bill  Thornton,  Isaac  VanDicar,  Abe  Velie.  Of  the  six 
New  Yorkers,  only  four  were  retained — Frank  McCormick,  George  C. 
Barrett,  Anse  Jillson  and  the  author.  (Another  one,  Frank  Root,  was  ac 
cepted  on  reapplication  in  the  Fall,  after  Gettysburg. )  There  was  also  one 
from  the  107th  Pennsylvania,  Peter  Andrews.  This  was  a  reinforcement 
of  44  men,  or  rather  boys,  as  very  few  of  them  were  over  20  years  of  age, 
and  brought  the  Battery  up  to  its  working  strength  again. 

My  original  assignment  was  to  the  gun  detachment  commanded  by 
Serg't  Frederick  A.  Chapin.  He  was  an  "  Old  Regular,"  a  veteran  of  the 
Utah  expedition,  and  one  of  the  best-hearted  comrades  it  was  ever  my 
fortune  to  know.  He  wTas  liked  by  every  one  who  came  in  contact  with 
him,  and  as  a  soldier  he  had  no  superior,  having  been  specially  mentioned 
for  distinguished  conduct  in  every  action  of  the  Battery  up  to  that  time. 
He  left  the  Battery  upon  the  expiration  of  his  five-year  term  in  June,  1863, 
and  afterward,  it  was  said,  became  a  Lieutenant  of  volunteers.  Besides 
Mitchell,  McBride  and  Chapin,  the  other  Sergeants  at  this  time  were 
James  Maher,  Edgar  A.  Thorpe,  James  Cahill,  Robert  and  Henry  Moore. 
Robert  MooVe  was  absent,  on  either  recruiting  service  or  ordnance  duty, 
and  Henry  G.  McDougall  was  acting  in  his  place.  Among  the  noteworthy 
characters  was  Serg't  James  Maher,  or  "Uncle  Jimmy,"  as  he  was  gen 
erally  called  by  the  boys.  He  was  a  grim  "Old  Regular,"  having  served 
several  years  in  the  British  army,  including  the  Crimean  war,  before  enlist 
ing  in  our  service.  "Jimmy"  was  a  typical  Irishman,  brave,  generous, 
jovial  and  irascible.  He  served  through  to  the  end  of  the  war  and  some 
time  afterward,  and  at  this  writing  lives  at  Duvall's  Bluff,  Ark.,  whence 
he  has  from  time  to  time  written  me  valuable  suggestions  in  regard  to  the 
make-up  of  this  volume.  On  the  whole,  I  think  it  perfectly  safe  to  say 
that  the  non-commissioned  officers  of  Battery  B  were  at  this  time  not  sur 
passed  in  manly  character  or  soldierly  quality  by  those  of  any  other  battery 
in  the  world.  Every  one  of  them  was  perfectly  capable  of  handling  a 
section,  or,  if  need  be,  the  whole  Battery  in  any  kind  of  emergency. 

The  relief  of  Burnside  and  the  assignment  of  Hooker  to  command  the 


"PUBLIC  OPINION. 


49 


Army  of  the  Potomac,  while  perhaps  inspiring  the  men  with  that  kind  of 
sardonic  satisfaction  which  proceeds  from  consciousness  that  any  sort  of 
change  must  be  for  the  better,  did  not  create  any  wild  enthusiasm.  Hooker 
was  known  to  the  army  as  "Fighting  Joe,"  a  soubriquet  which  had  been 
given  to  him  by  his  old  division  in  the  Peninsular  campaign.  The  troops 
of  the  First  Corps,  whom  he  had  commanded  at  Antietam,  respected  him. 
But  even  the  capability  of  enthusiasm  seemed  to  have  died  out  of  the  army 
at  this  time.  It  was  ready  to  fight  again  as  it  had  often  fought  before. 
As  a>  body  its  superb  courage  and  its  stoical  fortitude  had  not  diminished, 
nor  had  the  enlisted  men  lost  a  particle  of  their  self-reliance.  But  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  begun  to  consider  them 
selves  better  soldiers  than  their  commanders.  Probably  the  ideal  army  is, 
one  in  which  no  such  thing  as  "public  opinion  "  can  exist.  But  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  was  not  made  up  of  that  sort  of  soldiery.  On  the  con 
trary,  every  company  or  battery  camp  was  a  community  of  American  citi 
zens,  and  every  log  hut  in  the 
Winter  quarters  was  an  impro 
vised  "debating  society"  of 
bright,  smart  young  men  and1 
boys,  for  the  most  part  fairly 
educated,  and  retaining,  despite 
military  discipline,  the  habits  of 
free  thought  and  free  speech 
which  had  been  bred  in  their 
flesh  and  bone  in  the  peaceful 
days  gone  by.  Hence  the  Army- 
was  full  of  public  opinion,  which 
was  neither  slow  nor  diffident  in 
finding  expression ;  and  there 
were  few  officers,  no  matter 
what  their  rank,  who  would 
have  felt  flattered  by  the  average 
campfire  discussions  in  the  Win 
ter  quarters  of  1862-63. 
But  through  all  this  discontent,  want  of  confidence  and  even  apathy,  ran 
a  vein  of  good-natured  cynicism,  in  which  the  men  reasoned  that ' '  the  old 
flag  was  still  there,"  and  would  be  found  there  at  the  finish  right  side  up 
and  on  top,  and  that,  though  it  might  be  through  great  tribulation,  we 
were  going  to  whip  the  Eebels  and  restore  the  Union  some  way,  sometime 
and  somehow  in  spite  of  poor  commanders,  silly  editors,  scheming  poli 
ticians  and  thieving  contractors ! 

In  such  a  frame  of  mind  the  Army  passed  the  time  from  December  to 
May  in  tireless  drills,  reviews,  inspections,  fatigue-parties  and  all  the  other 
incidents  of  a  Winter  camp  of  preparation  for  hostilities  in  the  Spring. 
Considerable  changes  took  place  in  the  organization  of  the  Army.  Burn- 
side's  "Grand  Divisions"  were  discontinued  and  the  normal  condition  of 


A  CAMP  "DEBATING  SOCIETY.' 


50 


THE  CANNONEER. 


CHANCELLORSVILLE.  51 

the  army  corps  was  resumed.  The  First  Corps  remained  under  command 
of  Gen.  Reynolds,  but  Meade's  Division  of  Pennsylvania  Reserves  was 
transferred  to  the  Fifth  Corps,  and  a  new  Third  Division,  under  command 
of  Gen.  Doubleday,  was  organized  in  its  place ,  consisting  also  of  Peunsyl- 
vanians.  They  were  the  121st,  135th,  142d  and  151st,  brigaded  under 
Gen.  T.  A.  Rowley,  and  the  143d,  149th  and  150th,  brigaded  under  Col. 
Stone.  These  regiments  had  all  been  raised  in  the  Fall  of  1862,  and  had 
not  seen  much  service  at  this  time,  though  they  were  soon  to  win  high 
rank  and  imperishable  renown. 

The  artillery  of  the  First  Corps  maintained  its  former  organization,  the 
batteries  being  attached  to  the  infantry  divisions.  The  only  change  was 
the  detachment  of  Battery  D,  1st  Rhode  Island,  from  the  First  Division. 
It  went  into  the  Ninth  Corps,  and  we  did  not  see  it  again.  This  left  Rey- 
nolds's  (L)  1st  New  York,  Edgell's  1st  New  Hampshire  and  Stewart's  (B), 
of  the  4th  Regulars,  attached  to  the  First  Division  of  the  First  Corps ; 
Hall's  2d  Maine,  Leppien's  5th  Maine  (afterward  Stevens's),  Thompson's 
(C)  Pennsylvania  and  Ransom's  (C)  5th  Regulars,  attached  to  the  Second 
Division,  with  Cooper's  (B),  Ricketts's  (F)  and  Amsden's  (G)  1st  Pennsyl 
vania,  attached  to  the  Third  Division. 

The  strength  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  on  April  30, 1863 ,  was  reported 
to  be  114,500  of  all  ranks  and  arms.  But  it  was  notorious  that  not  more 
than  82,000  to  85,000  muskets  crossed  the  river  to  fight  the  battle  of  Chan- 
cellorsville.  The  artillery  consisted  of  57  batteries  distributed  among  the 
infantry  divisions  and  14  in  reserve.  The  total  number  of  guns  was  384, 
and  the  personnel  aggregated  over  7,500  men,  most  of  the  batteries  being 
pretty  full-handed  at  this  time. 

The  artillery  which  was  with  the  Second,  Third,  Eleventh  and  Twelfth 
Corps  did  yeoman  service  at  Chancellorsville,  as  did  also  two  or  three  of 
the  Fifth  Corps  batteries.  But  the  batteries  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  for  some 
reason,  cut  but  a  comparatively  small  figure  in  the  desperate  struggle  of 
that  corps  at  Salem  Church  on  May  4,  while  the  First  Corps  batteries,  ex 
cepting  the  5th  Maine,  shared  the  inaction  of  that  corps  and  performed  no 
service  worth  mentioning.  As  for  Battery  B,  it  was  engaged  briefly  on  the 
extreme  left  at  Fitzhugh's  Crossing  May  1,  and  lost  two  men  wounded  — 
Phil.  Frazier,  who  died  of  his  wounds  sometime  afterward,  and  another 
man  slightly.  On  May  3,  the  Corps  having  been  brought  round  to  the 
extreme  right,  the  Battery  was  in  action  again  for  a  short  time  near  Hunt 
ing  Creek  Crossing,  and  had  two  more  men  wounded  or  missing. 

The  5th  Maine  Battery,  however,  early  in  the  morning  of  May  3,  was 
detached  from  the  First  Corps  and  ordered  to  report  to  the  Chief  of  Artil 
lery  of  the  Second  Corps,  near  the  Chancellor  House.  There  it  became 
engaged  in  a  most  desperate  combat,  in  which  it  had  about  30  men  killed 
and  wounded,  including  its  gallant  and  accomplished  Captain,  George  F. 
Leppien.  All  the  accounts  were  to  the  effect  that  the  5th  Maine  Battery 
covered  itself  with  glory  on  this  occasion,  fighting  at  the  closest  range 
against  both  infantry  and  artillery  until  its  ammunition  was  expended, 


52  THE  CANNONEER. 

and  then  saving  all  its  guns  and  caissons,  notwithstanding  that  its  loss  of 
horses  was  so  great  as  to  require  some  of  the  guns  to  be  hauled  off  by  hand 
with  the  aid  of  some  men  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  of  the  Second  Corps,  consist 
ing  of  the  28th  Massachusetts,  63d,  69th  and  88th  New  York  and  116th 
Pennsylvania. 

All  the  artillery  that  was  in  action  at  Chancellorsville  behaved  splen 
didly.  In  fact  there  was  no  battle  of  the  whole  war  in  which  that  arm 
of  the  service  performed  more  efficient  and  decisive  service  than  it  did 
in  arresting  Jackson's  advance  in  the  evening  of  May  2  after  the  rout  of 
the  right  flank  of  the  army.  There  has  been  so  much  dispute  about  the 
proper  credit  for  this  performance  that  it  is  a  delicate  subject  to  deal  with. 
The  best  evidence,  from  careful  comparison  of  official  reports,  shows 
that  Martin's  6th  New  York,  Clark's  2d  New  Jersey  Battery  of  Par- 
rott  guns,  Lewis's  10th  New  York,  Burton's  llth  New  York  and  Hunt- 
ington's  (H)  1st  Ohio  were  formed  in  grand  battery  of  22  guns  by  the  joint 
efforts  of  Gen.  Pleasonton  and  Capt.  Huntington,  and  that,  while  they 
were  forming,  a  forlorn-hope  charge  was  made  by  the  8th  Pennsylvania 
Cavalry,  under  Majs.  Peter  Keenan  and  Pennock  Huey,  of  that  regiment, 
to  check  Jackson  for  a  moment  to  enable  them  to  get  in  battery  and  load. 
Many  anecdotes  have  been  related  of  this  joint  forlorn  hope  of  cavalry  and 
artillery,  and  it  was  a  staple  of  campfire  gossip  for  a  long  time  afterward. 
The  general  impression  among  the  troops  was  that  the  charge  of  the  8th 
Pennsylvania  Cavalry  was  the  most  heroic  act  performed  by  that  arm  of 
the  service  during  the  whole  war,  and  that  the  behavior  of  the  batteries 
above  named  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 

In  the  conflict  of  May  3,  chiefly  involving  the  Third  Army  Corps,  the 
palm  for  artillery  service  was  won  by  Frank  Seeley's  Battery  (K),  of  the  4th 
Regulars,  closely  seconded  by  Winslow's  (D)  1st  New  York  and  Dimick's 
(H),  of  the  1st  Regulars.  The  spirit  of  generous  rivalry  which  always 
prevailed  among  the  batteries  of  the  4th  Regular  artillery  requires  that  a 
representative  of  Battery  B  should  say  that  the  behavior  of  Battery  K  at 
Chancellorsville,  in  the  battle  of  May  3,  was  not  surpassed  by  that  of  any 
battery  in  any  battle,  and  was  seldom  if  ever  equalled.  Nothing  short  of 
the  behavior  of  Burnham's  Battery  (H),  of  the  5th  Regulars,  at  Chicka- 
mauga,  or  Stewart's  (B),  at  Antietam,  already  described,  can  be  compared 
with  it.  And  even  then  it  is  doubtful  whether,  all  things  considered,  the 
behavior  of  Seeley  and  his  men  was  not  entitled  to  the  first  rank  in  the 
history  of  the  Regular  artillery !  Because,  while  Stewart  and  his  men  at 
Antietam  and  Burnham  and  his  men  at  Chickamauga  were  fighting  with 
some  hope  of  success  and  some  chance  of  victory,  poor  Seeley  and  his  de 
voted  Cannoneers  had  to  struggle  in  the  face  of  certain  defeat  and  to  fight 
as  they  fought  and  die  as  they  died  in  the  cold  shade  of  foregone  disaster. 
What  they  did  and  how  they  died  fills  an  honorable  page  in  the  history  of 
the  Regular  artillery,  and  the  only  regret  is  the  melancholy  fact  that 
around  that  page  must  be  drawn  a  heavy  black  border  of  mourning  for  the 
futility  of  their  devotion  and  their  daring.  It  was  not  their  fault.  Poor. 


SEELEY'S  BATTERY.  53 

humble  subalterns,  Sergeants,  Corporals  and  Cannoneers,  as  they  were, 
they  did  and  dared  and  died  in  the  wreck  of  Chancellorsville  just  as 
grandly  and  as  gamely  as  they  would  have  done  amid  the  glories  of  Gettys 
burg  !  It  was  all  the  same  at  last.  Let  old  K,  of  the  4th  Artillery,  cherish 
her  record  of  Chancellorsville.  No  other  battery  of  the  Regular  artillery 
will  ever  do  anything  to  make  it  grow  dim! 

According  to  the  testimony  of  his  men,  Frank  Seeley  was  about  like 
our  »wn  Stewart  as  an  officer  and  a  man.  Private  Andrew  J.  Miller,  who 
served  in  Battery  K  all  through  the  war,  writes  as  follows  concerning  him  ; 
and  all  old  soldiers  will  agree  that  the  greatest  glory  that  a  company  or 
battery  commander  can  win  is  the  praise  of  his  enlisted  men.  Comrade 
Miller  says  : 

Lieut.  Seeley  rose  from  the  ranks,  and  he  was  one  of  those  cool,  brave  men 
that  always  "stood  by."  He  was  a  good  officer,  and  his  character  is  above 
reproach.  I  knew  him  from  Yorktown  to  Gettysburg,  where  he  was  badly 
wounded  at  the  Peaoh  Orchard.  Our  battery  and  Battery  B  were  always  on 
the  best  of  terms,  and  we  knew  all  about  Stewart  — "Old  Jock,"  as  they  used 
to  call  him.  Everything  that  you  boys  of  Battery  B  could  say  in  praise  of 
Stewart,  we  of  Battery  K  would  cordially  echo  in  favor  of  our  own  Frank  W. 
Seeley. 

While  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville  was  going  on  a  number  of  us 
detailed  from  the  different  batteries  of  the  First  Corps  had  been  absent  at 
what  was  called  "Dismounted  Camp "  after  new  horses  to  replace  the  rav 
ages  of  the  preceding  campaigns.  This  detail  was  made  about  the  middle 
of  April,  and  its  duties  did  not  terminate  until  about  the  middle  of  May, 
so  the  men  engaged  in  it  missed  the  Chancellorsville  campaign  altogether, 
which  was  not  a  matter  to  be  regretted,  as  it  saved  us  one  defeat ! 

Our  stay  there  was  longer  than  we  had  expected,  and  it  was  a  fortnight 
or  more  before  the  officer  in  charge — a  Lieutenant  belonging  to  another 
battery — could  get  his  complement  of  horses  of  the  quality  he  desired. 
Returning  to  camp  on  the  Rappahannock,  several  weeks  were  spent  in 
comparative  inaction,  watching  the  manuvers  of  the  Rebel  army  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river.  During  this  time  the  Battery  was  drilled  in  man 
ual  of  the  piece,  school  of  the  section  and  battery  drill,  tirelessly,  in  order 
to  familiarize  the  newly-detached  volunteers  with  their  duties  and  to  train 
the  new  horses.  There  was  something  grand  and  inspiring  in  the  fierce 
clash  and  clamor  of  a  battery  manuvering  at  a  gallop  over  rough  fields, 
with  the  tramp  of  its  powerful  horses,  the  thunderous  rumble  of  its  huge 
wheels,  the  shrill  blast  of  its  bugles,  the  shouts  of  the  drivers,  the  waving 
of  guidons  and  the  glittering  of  its  polished  brass  guns  in  the  sunlight. 
However,  no  event  of  importance  happened  for  several  weeks.  Gloomy  as 
was  this  Winter  and  Spring  of  1862-63  in  front  of  Fredericksburg,  it  must 
not  be  imagined  that  the  boys  failed  to  divert  themselves. 

Among  other  institutions  in  the  Battery  was  an  amateur  "opera," 
sometimes  performing  as  a  "minstrel  troup,"  in  which  Billy  Irving  and 
Anse  Jillson  or  Tom  Price  were  first-rate  "end  men,"  while  sometimes 
Packard  and  sometimes  Lon.  Priest  acted  as  "  impressario  "  and  the  author 


54 


THE  CANNONEER. 


as  "second  tenor."  Five  of  those  youthful  voices  were  stilled  forever — 
Charley  Sprague,  at  Gettysburg  ;  Billy  Irving  and  Anse  Jillson,  at  Spott- 
sylvania  ;  Packard,  at  Jericho  Ford,  and  ' '  Brig. ' '  Johnson  in  the  slow  tor 
ture  of  Andersonville  !  Another  of  our  diversions  was  sparring  or  boxing 
with  gloves,  which  Stewart  always  encouraged,  and  which  formed  one  of 
the  regular  "  exercises ' '  of  the  Battery.  There  was  no  lack  of  teachers. 
Besides  Stewart  and  Davison,  who  were  both  accomplished  pugilists,  there 
were  Serg'ts  Mitchell,  Cahill,  Fred.  Chapin  and  Jimmy  Maher  (who  had 
been  a  British  soldier  before  enlisting  in  our  Army,  and  was  all  through 
the  Crimean  war),  of  the  Old  Regulars,  and  Bill  Bartholomew,  Tom  Clarke, 
Pat.  "Wallace ,  Lon  Priest,  Packard,  Jim  Moore  and  several  others  of  the 
older  Wisconsin  volunteers.  One  day  the  boys  were  having  "set-to's" 
down  near  the  forage-pile,  with  Johnny  Cook  as  "bottle-holder."  I  had 
been  successful  in  a  small  bout  with  a  boy  of  my  own  age  and  size,  when 


tfW"  -<  rW< 
W^HJ^  v  ,;/> 


"CUB"  KNOCKED  OUT. 

Serg't  Cahill  came  down  to  see  the  fun.  Jim  was  one  of  the  best  men 
of  his  inches  in  the  Army.  About  five  feet  eight  or  nine  inches  tall,  he 
was  built  like  a  four-year-old  bull,  and  would  strip  at  about  180  pounds. 
He  had  lived  nearly  all  his  life  in  camp,  being  one  of  the  oldest  Regulars 
and,  literally,  a  man  of  iron.  Flushed  with  success,  I  challenged  him  to 
put  on  the  gloves.  The  old  fellow  finally  peeled  his  jacket,  put  on  the 
gloves  and  good-naturedly  began  "sparring  for  points"  lightly,  while  I 


Too  MUCH  "GALL."  55 

tried  my  best  to  •'  slug  "  him.  I  was  at  this  time  well  grown,  five  feet 
seven  and  one-half  inches,  weighed  157  pounds,  and  could  throw  hand 
springs  over  the  poles  of  the  guns  in  park.  Jim's  patronizing  way  aggra 
vated  me,  as  he  let  all  the  boys  see  that  he  was  only  trying  to  "  stop  "  me 
playfully,  and  so  I  called  out,  "Come  on,  I'm  not  afraid  ;  hit  me !  Let's 
have  a  good  rally  !  " 

"  Oh,"  he  said,  "you're  nothing  but  a  cub  (a  nickname,  by  the  way, 
which  always  stuck  to  me  afterward),  you're  nothing  but  a  cub  ;  I  don't 
want  to  hit  you." 

But  I  kept  teasing  him,  and  finally  he  said,  "Look  out,  now,"  feinted 
with  his  left  for  my  side  and,  as  I  threw  my  guard  down,  gave  me  a 
terrific  straight  right-hander  plumb  on  the  point  of  the  chin  !  I  think  I 
went  about  10  feet,  striking  the  ground  all  in  a  heap,  and  probably 
"sliding"  a  foot  or  two  after  I  struck.  Old  Jim  thought  he  had  hurt 
me  and  rushed  to  help  me  up.  In  fact  I  felt  of  my  neck  to  see  if  it 
wasn't  broken,  being  completely  dazed  by  the  shock !  The  gloves  were 
soft  and  I  wasn't  hurt,  but  if  it  had  been  a  bare-knuckle  blow  my  jaw 
would  have  been  broken  sure.  "Old  Jim"  always  stood  very  high  in 
my  estimation  after  that.  With  such  diversions  we  whiled  away  the 
dreary  days  in  front  of  Fredericksburg. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


ARTILLERY  REORGANIZATION  —  MARCHING  TO  GETTYSBURG — WE 
STRIKE  FREE  SOIL  — FIRST  DAY'S  BATTLE  — CUTLER'S  BRIGADE 
LEADS  OFF  —  THE  BATTERY  AT  THE  RAILROAD  CUT  —  TERRIFIC 
SLUGGING  AT  SHORT  RANGE  —  HEROISM  OF  OUR  INFANTRY  SUP 
PORTS —  DAVISON  AND  THE  LEFT-HALF  BATTERY — STEWART 
SURROUNDED  AND  CUTS  HIS  WAY  OUT — FALLING  BACK  TO  THE 
HILL  —  THE  SECOND  DAY  —  EARLY'S  CHARGE  —  SPRIGG  CAR 
ROLL'S  COUNTER-CHARGE— THE  THIRD  DAY— GULP'S  HILL— 
COLOSSAL  CANNONADE — PICKETT'S  CHARGE. 

BOUT  the  middle  of  May  the  artil 
lery  underwent  a  reorganization. 
Hitherto  batteries  had  been  attached 
to  divisions,  and  though  for  some  time 
an  officer  had  been  recognized  as 
"Chief  of  Artillery"  of  each  army 
eg  corps,  there  had  been  no  actual  ' '  corps 
artillery."  But  now  all  the  artillery 
^  of  the  Army  was  grouped  into  "bri 
gades,"  attached  to  the  corps  head 
quarters,  or  into  a  general  reserve,  at 
tached  to  Army  headquarters. 

At  first  batteries  were  attached 
directly  to  infantry  brigades  —  one 
battery  to  each  brigade  —  and  they 
camped  and  marched  and  fought  to 
gether.  This  was  in  turn  superseded 
by  the  system  of  "divisional  ar 
tillery,"  in  which  two  or  three  bat 
teries  were  attached  to  each  infantry 
division  forming  part  of  it,  and  under  the  orders  of  the  Division  Com 
mander.  This  system  held  sway  until  changed  to  the  corps  system,  where 
all  the  batteries  belonging  to  an  army  corps  were  grouped  into  what  was 
called  the  "  Artillery  Brigade." 

For  administrative  purposes  the  Artillery  Brigade  was  a  distinct  or 
ganization,  having  a  commander,  who  was  called  the  "Corps  Chief  of 
Artillery,"  with  staff  -arrangements  of  their  own  about  the  same  as  a 
regiment  of  cavalry  or  infantry  would  have.  The  batteries,  however,  re 
mained  to  a  certain  extent  independent  as  to  action,  and  were  assigned  to 


THE  ARTILLERY  BRIGADE.  57 

temporary  service  with  divisions , and  even  with  brigades,  when  expedient. 
No  effort  was  made  to  keep  batteries  of  the  same  artillery  regiment  to 
gether,  Regular  or  volunteer.  In  fact,  it  was  the  policy  to  keep  them  in 
that  respect  separated  as  much  as  possible.  The  Regular  artillery,  as  is 
well  known,  consisted  of  five  regiments  of  12  batteries  each,  and  these 
were  scattered  all  over  the  theater  of  war,  serving  with  every  army  from 
the  Potomac  to  the  Mississippi.  In  the  volunteer  artillery  the  States  had 
followed  two  different  modes  of  organization,  tfn  some  States  the  volun 
teer  batteries  were  raised  as  entirely  independent  organizations,  and 
numbered  1st  battery,  2d  battery,  etc. ;  as,  for  example,  those  from  Maine 
or  Wisconsin.  Other  States  organized  their  artillery  in  regiments,  on  the 
plan  of  the  Regulars,  and  designated  them  by  letter ;  as,  for  example, 
Pennsylvania.  New  York,  Ohio  and  Illinois  had  both  systems  in  oper 
ation,  keeping  up  both  independent  batteries  and  artillery  regiments.  If 
we  consider  that  the  battery  is  the  true  unit  of  service  in  the  field,  we  may 
conclude  that  it  ought  to  be  an  independent  organization  in  all  other  re 
spects.  But,  as  in  large  armies,  artillery  officers  of  higher  rank  than  bat 
tery  Captains  are  needed  for  the  command  of  the  corps  brigades,  the 
artillery  reserve,  and  for  handling  that  arm  in  masses  whenever  concen 
tration  is  desirable,  the  regimental  system  becomes  necessary  to  afford 
means  of  conferring  suitable  rank  on  such  officers  in  their  own  branch. 

But  whether  independent  and  designated  by  number,  or  regimental  and 
designated  by  letter,  officially,  every  battery  soon  became  known  in  the 
Army  by  the  name  of  its  Captain,  and  by  that  title  its  exploits  passed  into 
history.  This  became  inconvenient  and  often  confusing  to  the  reader  of 
history,  as  commanding  officers  were  frequently  changed,  and  with  them 
the  current  designation  of  the  battery  would  be  correspondingly  altered. 
In  our  case  the  Battery  was  known  between  1861-65  as  "Gibbon's," 
"Campbell's,"  "Stewart's,"  and  "Mitchell's,"  though  so  much  of  its 
work  was  done  and  its  fame  earned  under  command  of  Stewart  that  the 
other  names  are  not  usually  connected  with  its  history. 

Under  this  reorganization  the  Artillery  Brigade  of  the  First  Corps  con 
sisted  of  the  2d  Maine  Battery,  Capt.  James  Hall ;  Battery  L,  1st  New 
York,  Capt.  Reynolds ;  the  5th  Maine,  Capt.  Greenleaf  Stevens ;  Battery 
B,  1st  Pennsylvania,  Capt.  James  Cooper,  and  ours,  which  was  the  only 
Regular  Battery  in  the  brigade. 

These  four  volunteer  batteries  were  all  excellent  organizations,  and 
having  been  without  exception  raised  in  1861,  they  had  become  thorough 
veterans  at  this  time.  As  to  excellence  of  service  there  can  be  no  invidious 
comparisons  between  them,  but  in  a  personal  sense  there  was  closer  fellow 
ship  between  us  and  the  Maine  boys,  particularly  Stevens's,  than  between 
us  and  our  New  York  or  Pennsylvania  comrades.  This  may  have  been 
due  in  some  degree  to  the  fact  that  Stevens's  battery  and  ours  were  armed 
alike,  both  having  12-pounder  brass  Napoleons,  while  the  other  three  were 
armed  with  the  three-inch  wrought-iron  rifle,  commonly  termed  the  Rod 
man  field  piece.  The  exigencies  of  service  frequently  required  all  kinds 


58  THE  CAXXONEEB. 

of  gnns  to  be  put  to  the  same  uses ;  but,  as  a  rule ,  whenever  there 
was  opportunity  for  choice,  the  rifle  batteries  were  used  for  long-range 
shelling,  while  our  smooth-bore  12-pounders  would  be  put  in  close  quar 
ters  to  doctor  the  charging  lines  of  the  enemy  with  double  canister.  But 
the  rifle  batteries  frequently  got  in  close  quarters,  where  they  also  used 
canister  with  effect,  though  they  could  not  load  and  fire  quite  as  rapidly  as 
the  smooth-bore  batteries  could  ;  while  we,  in  turn ,  got  our  share  of  long- 
range  shell  and  shrapnel  business. 

Speaking  of  Stevens' s  battery,  we  used  to  kndw  its  boys  almost  as  well 
as  we  did  our  own.  There  was  a  good  deal  in  common  between  us,  many 
of  them  being  Kennebec  lumbermen,  as  many  of  our  boys  were  Wisconsin 
lumbermen.  Besides  Capt.  Stevens,  there  were  Lieuts.  Clark  and  Whittier, 
Serg'ts  Hunt,  Jim  Bartlett  and  Ed.  Stevens,  together  with  George  Whittier, 
the  Lieutenant's  brother  or  cousin,  who  was  sometimes  on  detached  duty 
at  headquarters  with  me  later  than  this ;  Jim  White,  the  two  Woodbury 
boys,  Charley  Crane,  Al  Harmon,  John  Murphy,  Ben  Morse,  Ed.  Stearns, 
Ike  St.  Clair,  Hank  Hamilton,  Charley  Cook,  Bill  Brown,  and  two  or  three 
other  Browns,  Mike  Hickey,  a  typical  Irish  soldier,  Dave  Black,  Bill 
Towne,  Con  Powers,  Hiram  Paul,  Andy  Welch,  and  many  others — but 
this  is  not  a  sketch  of  Stevens's  battery.  Eeynolds's  was  known  among 
the  New  York  troops  as  "the  Rochester  Battery,"  from  being  mainly  raised 
in  that  city.  Just  now  there  occur  to  me  the  two  Buell  boys,  Austin  and 
Melville  —  distant  relatives  of  mine  —  Serg't  George  Sill,  Mosier,  Nelson, 
Ganyard,  Chapman,  Lieuts.  George  Breck  and  Wilbour,  etc.  Stewart  and 
Stevens  were  always  great  friends,  being  doubtless  more  intimate  than  any 
other  two  battery  commanders  in  the  brigade. 

The  enlisted  men  of  the  artillery  at  this  time  were  personally  armed 
with  sabers,  a  clumsy  weapon  and  perfectly  absurd,  because  it  was  of  no 
use,  and,  when  worn,  was  always  in  the  way.  The  artillery  saber  was 
more  curved  than  even  the  cavalry  sword,  which  increased  its  uselessness 
and  unhandiness. 

A  more  ridiculous  spectacle  can  hardly  be  imagined  than  a  Cannoneer 
sponging  and  loading  in  the  position  of  No.  1,  or  running  back  and  forth 
between  the  gun  and  ammunition  chest  as  No.  5,  with  a  long,  crooked 
cheeseknife  in  a  heavy  scabbard  dangling  at  his  hip  and  getting  between 
his  legs  to  trip  him  up.  Moreover,  the  only  need  a  Cannoneer  could  ever 
have  for  a  personal  weapon  at  all  would  be  when  charged  by  infantry  at  close 
quarters,  and  in  that  case  the  old  crooked,  dull  saber  would  be  about  as 
useless  against  a  musket  and  bayonet  as  any  incumbrance  that  could  be 
devised. 

The  true  side-arm  for  enlisted  artillerymen  is  the  revolver,  and  they 
should  never  be  required  to  carry  any  other.  The  non-commissioned  offi 
cers  of  artillery — that  is,  the  Sergeants — were  provided  with  revolvers 
from  the  start ;  but  it  was  not  until  1863,  and  after  a  number  of  batteries 
had  been  run  over  and  captured,  that  our  slow-going  ordnance  authorities 
concluded  to  serve  out  revolvers  to  the  Gunners  and  Cannoneers,  and  even 


STARTING  FOR  GETTYSBURG.  5& 

then  many  batteries  never  got  them  at  all.  Our  Captain  was  too  old  and' 
practical  a  soldier  not  to  see  the  absurdity  of  the  saber,  and  so  we  were 
never  incumbered  with  it  in  battery  drill  or  in  action  ;  but  they  had  to  be 
kept  along,  as  the  regulations  required  it,  and  so  they  were  carried  in  the 
wagon.  We  had  to  keep  them  and  their  scabbards  bright,  which  involved 
work  that  might  better  have  been  expended  in  grooming  the  horses  or 
taking  care  of  the  harness  and  guns.  However,  the  sabers  had  to  be  kept 
on  hand  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  inspecting  officer  when  he  came  round 
once  a  month.  « 

The  volunteer  batteries  in  the  First  Corps  Brigade  generally  had  the 
advantage  of  us  in  number  of  men  present  for  duty,  they  frequently  hav 
ing  as  many  as  130,  while  we  seldom  exceeded  100.  This  was  owing  to 
the  fact  that  they  could  always  get  recruits  from  home,  and  each  battery 
had  more  or  less  of  local  reputation  where  it  was  raised,  wrhich  facilitated 
recruiting ;  whereas  we  had  to  depend  on  detached  men  from  infantry  regi 
ments  in  the  corps,  and  could  not  always  get  them,  particularly  after  the 
Battery  had  begun  to  get  its  name  up  for  desperate  fighting  and  appalling 
losses. 

During  this  time  the  First  Corps  held  the  left  of  the  army,  camping 
along  the  Belle  Plaine  Road  as  far  back  as  White  Oak  Church,  and  made 
no  movement  from  the  end  of  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville  till  the  middle 
of  June,  when  it  broke  camp  and  marched  to  Bealeton,  where  it  halted  to 
observe  the  fords  on  the  roads  leading  to  Culpeper,  where  Longstreet  was 
understood  to  be  with  his  whole  corps.  In  the  meantime  Pleasonton's 
cavalry  was  active,  and  had  a  desperate  fight  at  Brandy  Station,  just  be 
fore  our  arrival  at  Bealeton,  in  which  a  horse-battery  (Martin's  6th 
New  York)  had  suffered  heavily  and  gained  great  credit.  From  this 
place  we  withdrew  slowly  by  way  of  Manassas,  through  Centerville,  to 
a  point  on  the  line  of  the  Alexandria  and  Loudoun  Road,  called  ''  Hern- 
don's,"  where  we  camped  two  or  three  days.  From  there  we  moved  rap 
idly  to  the  Potomac,  at  Ed  wards' s  Ferry,  where  we  crossed  on  the  25th  and 
marched  up  the  east  bank  of  the  river  and  halted  in  front  of  the  old  battle 
field  of  South  Mountain.  It  was  now  rumored  through  the  camp  that  the 
main  Rebel  army  was  moving  up  the  Cumberland  Valley  into  Pennsyl 
vania. 

In  front  of  us  was  South  Mountain,  Crampton's  Gap  on  our  immediate 
right,  and  just  over  the  ridge  was  the  Valley  of  the  Antietam,  where  our 
Battery  had  lost  its  Captain  and  40-odd  men  killed  and  wounded,  and  30 
or  40  horses  killed  or  disabled  a  few  months  before.  We  remained  near 
Middletown  the  25th  and  26th,  and  on  the  27th  fell  back  through  the  gaps 
toward  Mechanicstown ,  where  we  arrived  that  night.  It  was  by  this  time 
well  known  to  all  the  troops  that  Lee's  army  was  moving  up  the  Cumber 
land  Valley,  on  the  other  side  of  the  mountain  from  us,  and  we  used  to 
watch  every  gap  in  momentary  expectancy  of  seeing  the  head  of  a  Con 
federate  column  debouch  from  it. 

As  we  moved  slowly  northward,  rumors  of  Lee's  operations  in  Penn- 


'60  THE  CANNONEER. 

sylvania  filled  the  camp,  and  there  was  among  the  men  a  universal  feeling 
of  distrust  as  to  the  capacity  of  Gen.  Hooker,  who  was  still  in  the  command 
•of  the  Army.  The  men  had  confidence  in  themselves,  and  were  sure  they 
could  whip  the  enemy  if,  as  the  veterans  used  to  say,  "  The  President 
would  only  give  us  a  commander  who  would  fight  at  least  one  battle  to  a 
finish." 

There  was  something  pitiful  in  the  average  sentiment  of  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  glorious  old  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  this  time.  The  prevailing 
idea  among  the  old  soldiers  —  and  it  formed  the  staple  of  camp  talk  —  was 
that  the  Army  was  being  murdered  by  inches.  They  had  always  been 
ready  and  anxious  to  fight.  When  beaten  they  had  believed  that  it  was 
because  of  bad  handling  by  their  commanders.  Even  McClellan ,  for  whom 
the  veterans  generally  had  a  warm  side,  was  criticized.  They  thought  that 
if  they  had  been  allowed  to  follow  up  the  Antietam  affair  vigorously,  Lee's 
;army  would  have  been  hopelessly  crippled,  if  not  destroyed,  on  the  north 
side  of  the  river.  But  they  always  found  an  excuse  for  "  Little  Mac,"  in 
that  he  hated  to  put  his  men  in  unless  he  was  sure  to  win,  and  that,  what 
ever  happened,  he  would  never  get  them  murdered  in  hopeless  enterprises. 
As  for  Burnside,  they  execrated  him.  No  epithet  could  be  severe  enough 
to  express  their  sense  of  his  folly  and  stupidity.  They  always  spoke  of 
Fredericksburg  as  a  "  massacre. ' ' 

Hooker  they  admired  to  a  certain  extent,  but  there  was  hardly  a  sol 
dier  in  the  ranks  who  did  not  know  that  the  whole  First  Corps  and  part  of 
the  Fifth,  embracing  some  of  the  oldest  and  best  troops  in  the  Army,  had 
hardly  been  permitted  to  pull  a  trigger  at  Chancellorsville,  and  it  is 
hard  to  convince  such  men  as  the  old  First  Corps  was  made  of  that  they 
could  not  have  made  some  impression  on  the  fortunes  of  the  day  if  they 
had  been  put  in  on  the  right  of  the  Third  Corps  after  Pleasonton  and 
Sickles  had  checked.  Jackson's  attack.  Knowing,  as  they  did,  that  the 
Commander-in-Chief  had  not  fought  them  to  the  best  advantage  at  Chan 
cellorsville,  it  was  most  natural  that  they  should  distrust  his  ability  to 
handle  them  in  the  forthcoming  great  battle  on  our  own  soil,  on  the  result 
of  which  the  whole  issue  of  the  war  was  not  unlikely  to  depend.  The 
Antietam  campaign,  though  fought  on  soil  under  Union  control,  was  not 
regarded  by  the  troops  as  really  an  invasion  of  the  North.  Maryland  was 
more  than  half  Eebel,  anyhow,  and  none  of  the  troops  from  the  Northern 
and  Western  States  had  much  sympathy  with  her  people.  But  Pennsyl 
vania  was  held  in  altogether  different  estimation,  and  the  thought  of  fight 
ing  a  big  battle  on  her  soil  inspired  the  men  with  an  altogether  novel  sen 
timent.  Keports  were  coming  to  us  every  hour  giving  what  in  the  light  of 
later  history  is  known  to  have  been  frightfully  exaggerated  reports  of  the 
numbers  and  equipment  of  Lee's  army  ;  but  we  believed  it  all  then,  and 
every  man  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  sure  that  he  was  about  to  be 
matched  against  a  vastly  superior  Rebel  force  in  a  struggle  which  might 
end  the  war,  and  the,y  all  believed  that  if  it  went  against  us  that  bat- 
Ale  must  terminate  the  conflict,  for  it  was  a  common  remark  among  the 


CHANGE  OF  COMMANDERS.  61 

men,  "If  we  are  whipped  here,  and  I  pull  through  it  alive,  I  am  going  to 
make  tracks  for  home,  and  the  provost-guard  may  be . ' ' 

In  view  of  this  state  of  feeling,  it  is  quite  probable  that,  had  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  been  whipped  at  Gettysburg  as,  for  example,  Pope's  army 
was  at  Manassas,  it  would  have  dissolved  to  all  practical  intents  and  pur 
poses.  Organizations  like  our  owrn,  and  doubtless  some  of  the  older  volun 
teer  regiments,  would  have  held  together  and  made  some  sort  of  retreat 
toward  the  Susquehanna,  but  the  heart  of  the  army  would  have  l>een 
broken,  and  its  power  as  a  great  fighting  unit  would  have  departed  to 
return  no  more. 

But  there  wrere  no  forebodings  of  defeat  among  my  veteran  comrades. 
The  universal  expression  \vas  the  hope  that  the  men  would  be  permitted 
to  fight  the  battle  to  a  finish.  Any  old  commander  of  troops  at  Gettys 
burg  will  tell  you  that  he  never  before  or  afterward  found  his  men  so 
willing  to  advance  or  so  reluctant  to  fall  back  as  they  were  there.  The 
sole  misgiving  was  about  the  Commander-in-Chief.  No  one  questioned  his 
courage,  but  even  the  buglers  were  convinced  that  he  was  unable  to  handle 
any  larger  body  than  an  army  corps  to  advantage,  and  so  the  old  Army  of 
the  Potomac  moved  slowly  toward  the  scene  of  its  most  immortal  triumph 
in  a  frame  of  mind  that  cannot  be  imagined  by  any  one  who  was  not  a 
soldier  in  the  ranks,  and  that  can  only  be  described  as  a  sullen  resolve  to 
whip  the  fight  if  each  man  had  to  do  it  all  himself. 

Such  was  the  state  of  mind  of  the  Army  when,  during  the  afternoon  of 
June  29,  the  news  sped  through  the  ranks  that  Hooker  had  been  relieved. 
In  the  First  Corps  it  was  at  the  start  reported  that  Gen.  Reynolds  had  been 
put  in  Hooker's  place,  and,  of  course,  there  was  wild  enthusiasm  ;  for  no 
commander  in  any  army  ever  had  the  respect  and  affection  of  his  men  to  a 
greater  extent  than  Reynolds  had  of  the  men  of  the  old  First.  But  later 
in  the  evening  Stewart  announced  informally  that  the  command  of  the 
Army  had  been  conferred  on  Gen.  Meade,  of  the  Fifth  Corps.  He  did  not 
say  much  about  Meade,  except  that  he  was  "a  rattling  fighter,"  and  would 
''give  old  Lee  a  bellyful  before  he  got  through  with  him."  But  we  all 
wanted  Reynolds — at  least  in  the  First  Corps  ;  and  most  of  us  who  survive 
believe  that  if  he  had  been  in  command,  and  had  not  been  killed  as  he 
was,  Lee  would  have  had  a  much  livelier  time  getting  back  into  Virginia 
than  he  did. 

"We  moved  at  daybreak  the  next  morning,  passed  through  the  village 
of  Emmittsburg,  arid  about  noon  halted  with  the  head  of  our  column  at  a 
bridge  across  Marsh  Creek.  Here  we  remained  during  the  afternoon  and 
night  of  June  30.  While  we  lay  there  Gen.  Buford's  division  of  cavalry 
passed  up  the  road  toward  Gettysburg.  They  had  plenty  of  news  for  us, 
and  it  was  of  an  exciting  character.  They  would  sing  out  as  they  rode  by, 
"We  have  found  the  Johnnies ;  they  are  just  above  and  to  the  left  of  us, 
and  the  woods  are  full  of  'em." 

Of  course  but  few  details  could  be  got,  as  the  cavalry  was  moving 
rapidly,  but  Devins's  Brigade  made  a  brief  halt  in  the  road  on  our  front. 


'62  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

and  some  of  the  6th  New  York  men  told  us  that  they  had  tried  to  go  to 
Gettysburg  early  in  the  morning  by  a  shorter  route,  and  had  encountered 
a  large  force  of  Confederate  infantry,  which  had  compelled  them  to  turn 
back  and  come  round  by  Emmittsburg.  The  Colonel  of  the  6th  New  York 
told  Stewart  that  there  was  no  doubt  but  that  Lee's  whole  army  was  in 
front  of  us,  and  that  they  — the  cavalry  —  were  advancing  to  bring  on  an 
-engagement.  The  known  proximity  of  the  enemy  in  great  force,  and  the 
certainty  of  an  immediate  battle,  which  every  one  said  was  bound  to  be 
the  greatest  and  most  desperate  yet  fought,  began  to  have  a  perceptible 
effect  on  the  men. 

They  were  a  little  more  serious  than  usual,  and  there  was  less  chaff 
and  badinage  among  them.  That  was  all.  No  one  could  detect  the  least 
appearance  of  apprehension  on  the  part  of  any  man  or  boy  in  the  Battery. 

The  night  of  our  halt  at  Marsh  Creek  occurred  one  of  the  unpleasant 
things  in  the  history  of  the  Battery.  Frank  Noble,  one  of  the  best  boys 
we  had,  went  to  a  neighboring  farmhouse  to  get  some  canteens  of  milk. 
The  farmer,  who  was  doubtless  an  "Adams  County  Copperhead, "  as  we 
used  to  call  them,  demanded  an  exorbitant  price.  Frank  got  angry  at 
this,  went  to  the  farmyard  and  milked  one  of  the  cows  himself,  bringing 
the  milk  to  camp.  The  farmer  followed  and  reported  him.  This  perplexed 
Stewart,  l>ecause  Frank  had  been  severely  wounded  at  Antietam  and  had 
but  recently  returned  to  duty,  and  Stewart  always  hated  to  punish  one  of 
the  Antietam  veterans.  However,  the  general  orders  against  marauding 
of  any  kind  were  terribly  stringent,  and  the  Old  Man  knew  that  if  he  failed 
to  take  notice  of  the  complaint  it  would  be  carried  to  higher  authority, 
doubtless  with  much  worse  consequences  both  to  Frank  and  himself.  So  he 
ordered  Frank  up  on  the  caisson,  which  satisfied  the  complainant.  But 
the  boys  all  sympathized  with  Frank  and  gathered  about  him  to  express 
their  sentiments.  Stewart  ordered  them  away,  but  they  were  sullen  and 
for  a  few  moments  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  going  to  be  confusion  at  least, 
if  not  worse  trouble,  which  would  have  been  terrible  in  a  Battery  with 
such  a  reputation  for  orderly  conduct  and  good  discipline.  But  good  coun 
sels  prevailed,  and  after  a  little  vehement  language  and  a  trifle  of  insub 
ordination  the  men  obeyed.  Frank  took  his  punishment  sullenly,  and 
nothing  more  came  of  it.  But  he  never  got  over  it,  and  the  next  January, 
when  he  veteranized,  he  left  the  Battery  and  returned  to  his  regiment.  No 
doubt  he  feels  different  about  it  now. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  feeling  in  other  Corps  of  the  Army,  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  every  man  and  boy  in  the  First  Corps,  from  Gen.  Reynolds 
to  Johnny  Cook,  our  Bugler,  started  in  that  July  morning  to  whip  !  There 
was  a  curious  sensation  among  us  when  one  of  the  Sergeants  of  Cooper's 
Batteiy  (B,  1st  Pennsylvania)  came  up  the  road  about  daylight  on  some 
errand  or  other  and  remarked  to  some  of  our  men  who  were  in  the  road, 
"  Boys,  don't  forget  that  this  is  free  soil !  We  are  now  about  half  a  mile 
north  of  the  Keystone  State  line  ! ' '  Being  further  interrogated,  this  sturdy 
Sergeant  told  us  that  his  own  home  was  not  more  than  10  or  12  miles 


FIRST  GUN  OF  GETTYSBURG. 


63 


m 


You  BET  WE  WILL  STAND  BY  You.' 


away  —  in  the  direction  of  Hanovertown — and  he  said  :  "You  are  Wis 
consin,  Indiana,  Michigan  and  New  York  boys,  and  maybe  you  don't  know 
how  a  Pennsylvanian  feels  when  he  may  have  to  fight  to-niorrow  in  his 
mother's  dooryard  !  "  It  is  not  nec 
essary  to  remark  that  we  all  assured 
this  stout  Pennsylvania  Sergeant  of 
Cooper's  Battery  that  Wisconsin, 
Indiana,  Michigan  and  New  York 
"  would  stand  by  him  until  h — 1 
froze  over  !  And  then,  if  necessary, 
perish  on  the  ice  !  ! ' ' 

The  last  thing  we  did  the  night 
of  June  30  was  to  draw  three  days' 
cooked  rations,  and  when  we  were 
packing  our  haversacks  Corp'l  Pack 
ard  said  :  "See  here,  'Cub,'  you 
want  to  hang  onto  that  grub,  my 
son,  because  we  shall  probably  be 
fighting  up  here  for  two  or  three 
days,  and  you  can't  get  any  more 
while  that  is  going  on. ' ' 

We  were  turned  out  the  next  morning  about  daybreak,  harnessed  up, 
and,  after  crossing  the  creek,  halted  to  let  the  infantry  of  Wadsworth's 
Division  file  by.  There  was  no  mistake  now.  While  we  stood  there 
watching  these  splendid  soldiers  file  by  with  their  long,  swinging  "  route- 
step,"  and  their  muskets  glittering  in  the  rays  of  the  rising  sun,  there 
came  out  of  the  northwest  a  sullen  "  boom  !  boom  !  boom  !  "  of  three  guns, 
followed  almost  immediately  by  a  prolonged  crackling  sound,  which,  at 
that  distance,  reminded  one  very  much  of  the  snapping  of  a  dry  brush-heap 
when  you  first  set  it  on  fire.  We  soon  reasoned  out  the  state  of  affairs  up 
in  front.  Buford,  we  calculated,  had  engaged  the  leading  infantry  of  Lee's 
army,  and  was  probably  trying  to  hold  them  with  his  cavalry  in  heavy 
skirmish  line,  dismounted,  until  our  infantry  could  come  up.  They  said 
that  the  enemy  had  not  yet  developed  more  than  a  skirmish  line,  l>ecause 
if  he  had  shown  a  heavy  formation  Buford  would  be  using  his  artillery,  of 
which  he  had  two  or  three  batteries,  whereas  we  had  thus  far  heard  only 
the  three  cannon  shots  mentioned.  These  apparently  trifling  incidents 
show  how  the  men  in  our  Army  were  in  the  habit  of  observing  things,  and 
how  unerring  their  judgment  was,  as  a  rule,  even  in  matters  of  military 
knowledge  far  beyond  their  sphere  or  control. 

But  my  eyes  were  riveted  on  the  infantry  marching  by.  No  one  now 
living  will  ever  again  see  those  two  brigades  of  Wadsworth's  Division  — 
Cutler's  and  the  Iron  Brigade — file  by  as  they  did  that  morning.  The 
little  creek  made  a  depression  in  the  road,  with  a  gentle  ascent  on  either 
side,  so  that  from  our  point  of  view  the  column,  as  it  came  down  one  slope 
and  up  the  other,  had  the  effect  of  huge  blue  billows  of  men  topped  with  a 


64  THE  CAXNONEEK. 

spray  of  shining  steel,  and  the  whole  spectacle  was  calculated  to  give  nerve 
to  a  man  who  had  none  before.  Partly  because  they  had  served  together 
a  long  time,  and,  no  doubt,  because  so  many  of  their  men  were  in  our 
ranks,  there  was  a  great  affinity  between  the  Battery  and  the  Iron  Brigade, 
which  expressed  itself  in  cheers  and  good-natured  chaffing  between  us  as 
they  went  by.  "  Find  a  good  place  to  camp  ;  be  sure  and  get  near  a  good 
dry  rail  fence  ;  tell  the  Johnnies  we  will  be  right  along,"  were  the  saluta 
tions  that  passed  on  our  part,  while  the  infantry  made  such  responses  as 
' '  All  right ;  better  stay  here  till  we  send  for  you ;  the  climate  up  there 
may  be  unhealthy  just  now  for  such  delicate  creatures  as  you,"  and  all 
that  sort  of  thing.  It  was  probably  8  o'clock  when  the  last  brigade  had 
passed,  and  then  we  got  the  order  to  march,  moving  with  Doubleday's 
Division.  As  we  moved  up  the  road  we  could  see  the  troops  of  the  next 
division  coming  close  behind.  By  this  time  the  leading  regiments  of 
Wads  worth's  infantry  had  got  on  the  ground,  and  the  sounds  of  battle 
were  increasing  rapidly. 

Wads  worth's  Division  consisted  of  two  brigades.  The  First  was  the 
Iron  Brigade,  composed  of  the  3d,- 6th,  and  7th  Wisconsin,  19th  Indiana 
and  24th  Michigan.  The  Second  was  Cutler's  Brigade,  composed  of  the 
7th  Indiana,  76th,  95th,  147th  and  14th  (Brooklyn)  New  York  and  56th 
Pennsylvania.  It  happened  to  be  the  turn  of  Cutler's  Brigade  to  lead  the 
column  on  the  morning  of  July  1.  Comrade  E.  R.  Graham,  of  the  56th 
Pennsylvania,  now  living  at  Grand  Pass,  Mo. ,  writes  as  follows  concerning 
the  order  of  advance  from  Marsh  Creek  : 

The  first  infantry  regiment  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  to  enter  the  State 
(of  Pennsylvania)  was  the  76th  New  York,  under  Maj.  Grover,  followed  in 
order  by  the  56th  Pennsylvania,  commanded  by  Brevet  Brig.-Gen.  J.  W.  Hof- 
mann;  147th  New  York,  Lieut.-Col.  F.  C.  Miller;  14th  Brooklyn,  Brevet  Brig.- 
Gen.  E.  B.  Fowler,  and  the  95th  New  York,  under  Maj.  Edward  Pye.  The  76th 
New  York,  56th  Pennsylvania  and  147th  New  York  formed  on  the  right  of  the 
Railroad  Cut,  facing  west  in  the  order  indicated,  and  the  action  was  begun  by 
the  56th  Pennsylvania,  followed  instantly  by  the  rest  of  the  command. 

The  Second  Brigade  was  very  proud  of  Stewart's  Battery,  and  supported  it 
in  action  as  often  as  any  other  troops. 

A  careful  survey  of  the  ground  occupied  shows  that  the  division  crossed 
the  State  line  the  night  before,  when  the  Iron  Brigade  was  leading,  the  6th 
Wisconsin  in  front.  But  the  76th  New  York  was  the  regiment  which  led 
off  for  Gettysburg  the  next  morning,  when  Cutler's  Brigade  took  the  head 
of  column  in  the  order  of  alternation  that  was  observed  by  the  respective 
brigades. 

The  sounds  of  the  cavalry  fight  had  been  distinct  ever  since  we  left  Marsh 
Creek  —  a  fitful  crackle  —  but  now  we  heard  fierce,  angry  crash  on  crash, 
rapidly  growing  in  volume  and  intensity,  signifying  that  our  leading  in 
fantry —  Cutler's  and  the  Iron  Brigade  —  had  encountered  the  "dough 
boys  ' '  of  Lee's  advance.  It  is  well  known  that  the  men  of  the  Iron  Brigade 
always  preferred  slouch  hats  (Western  fashion),  and  seldom  or  never  wore 
caps.  At  the  time  this  heavy  crashing  began  we  were  probably  half  way 


"THE  OLD  SLOUCH  HATS."  65 

np  from  Marsh  Creek,  and ,  as  the  Battery  was  marching  at  a  walk,  most  of 
us  were  walking  along  with  the  guns  instead  of  riding  on  the  limbers. 
Among  the  Cannoneers  was  a  man  from  the  2d  Wisconsin  (John  Holland) 
who  took  great  pride  in  the  Iron  Brigade.  So,  when  that  sudden  crash  f 
crash !  crash !  floated  over  the  hills  to  our  ears,  John  said,  with  visible 
enthusiasm,  ' '  Hear  that,  my  son  !  That's  the  talk  !  The  old  slouch  hats 
have  got  there,  you  bet ! ! " 

Now  the  artillery  began  to  play  in  earnest,  and  it  was  evident  that  the 
three  batteries  which  had  preceded  us  were  closely  engaged,  while  the 
musketry  had  grown  from  the  crackling  sound  of  the  skirmishing  we  had 
heard  early  in  the  morning  to  an  almost  incessant  crash,  which  betokened 
the  file  firing  of  a  main  line  of  battle.  Just  before  reaching  the  brow  of 
the  hill,  south  of  the  town,  where  we  could  get  our  first  sight  of  the  battle 
itself,  there  was  a  provoking  halt  of  nearly  half  an  hour.  We  could  hear 
every  sound,  even  the  yells  of  the  troops  fighting  on  the  ridge  beyond 
Gettysburg,  and  we  could  see  the  smoke  mount  up  and  float  away  lazily 
to  the  northeastward  ;  but  wTe  could  not  see  the  combatants.  While  halted 
here  Doubleday's  Division  passed  up  the  road,  each  regiment  breaking  into 
double  quick  as  it  reached  the  top  of  the  hill.  The  Eleventh  Corps  also 
began  by  this  time  to  arrive  from  Emmittsburg.  Finally,  when  the  last  of 
the  Second  Brigade  of  Doubleday's  (Stone's)  had  passed,  we  got  the  order  to 
advance  again,  and  in  two  minutes  the  whole  scene  burst  upon  us  like  the 
lifting  of  the  curtain  in  a  grand  play.  The  spectacle  was  simply  stupen 
dous.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  was  ever  a  battle  fought  elsewhere  of  which 
such  a  complete  view  was*  possible  from  one  point  as  we  got  of  that  battle 
when  we  reached  the  top  of  the  hill  abreast  of  Round  Top. 

The  Battery  kept  moving  rapidly  to  the  front  along  the  Emmittsburg 
Pike  until  it  arrived  at  a  cross  road  or  farm  lane  leading  toward  the  Semi 
nary,  when  it  turned  to  the  left  and  shortly  after  halted  in  column  a  little 
to  our  left  of  that  building  and  just  on  the  crest  of  the  ridge.  The  Battery 
remained  here  perhaps  an  hour,  when  it  was  relieved  by  Stevens's  5th 
Maine  battery  and  proceeded  at  once  to  form  "by  half-battery"  on  both 
sides  of  the  Railroad  Cut,  on  the  ridge  nearest  the  town,  and  abreast  of  the 
Thompson  House.  The  formation  of  the  left  half-battery  was  open  order, 
and  the  three  guns  fronted  about  half  the  space  between  the  turnpike  and 
the  railroad,  the  caissons  taking  cover  of  the  buildings  and  the  rear  slope 
of  the  ground.  Lieut.  Davison  commanded  the  left  half-battery,  and  had 
with  him  Ord.  Serg't  John  Mitchell,  Serg'ts  Thorpe  and  Moore,  Lance 
Serg't  McDougall,  and  about  42  Corporals,  Drivers  and  Cannoneers. 

Our  guns  pointed  about  due  west,  taking  the  Cash  town  Pike  en  echarpe. 
The  right  half-battery  was  in  line  with  us  on  the  north  side  of  the  cut.  Its 
right  gun  rested  on  the  edge  of  a  little  grove,  which  extended  some  distance 
farther  to  the  right,  and  was  full  of  infantry  (the  llth  Pennsylvania)  sup 
porting  us.  There  was  also  infantry  in  our  rear,  behind  the  crest  and 
in  the  Railroad  Cut  (the  6th  Wisconsin).  One  of  our  squad  volunteered 
the  facetious  remark  that  these  infantry  "  were  put  there  to  shoot  the  re- 

5 


66  THE  CAXXOXEEB. 

emits  if  they  flinched,"  for  which  he  was  rebuked  by  Corp'l  Packard,  who 
told  him  to  "see  that  he  himself  behaved  as  well  as  the  recruits."  As 
Stewart  commanded  the  right  half-battery  in  person,  he  did  not  have  much 
to  do  with  us,  directly,  during  the  action  that  followed. 

At  this  time,  which  was  probably  about  noon,  all  the  infantry  of  the 
First  Corps,  except  that  massed  immediately  about  our  position,  together 
with  Hall's,  Eeynolds's  and  one  of  the  cavalry  horse-batteries — Calef 's — 
had  been  struggling  desperately  in  the  fields  in  our  front,  and  for  a  few 
moments  we  had  nothing  to  do  but  witness  the  magnificent  scene.  The 
enemy  had  some  batteries  firing  down  the  pike,  but  their  shot — probably 
canister  —  did  not  reach  us.  In  a  few  minutes  they  opened  with  shell  from 
a  battery  on  a  high  knoll  to  the  north  of  us  (Oak  Hill),  and,  though  at  long 
range,  directly  enfilading  our  line.  But  they  sent  their  shells  at  the  troops 
who  were  out  in  advance.  We  stood  to  the  guns  and  watched  the  infantry 
combat  in  our  front.  Over  across  the  creek  (Willoughby's)  we  could  see 
the  gray  masses  of  the  Rebel  infantry  coming  along  all  the  roads  and  deploy 
ing  in  the  fields,  and  it  seemed  that  they  were  innumerable.  At  this  time 
some  200  or  300  Rebel  prisoners  passed  by  our  position  on  their  way  to  our 
rear.  They  were  a  tough-looking  set.  Some  had  bloody  rags  tied  round 
their  limbs  or  heads,  where  they  had  received  slight  wounds. 

In  the  meantime  our  infantry  out  in  the  field  toward  the  creek  was  being 
slowly  but  surely  overpowered,  and  our  lines  were  being  forced  in  toward 
the  Seminary.  It  was  now  considerably  past  noon.  In  addition  to  the 
struggle  going  on  in  our  immediate  front,  the  sounds  of  a  heavy  attack  from 
the  north  side  were  heard,  and  away  out  beyond  the  creek,  to  the  south, 
a  strong  force  could  be  seen  advancing  and  overlapping  our  left.  The 
enemy  was  coming  nearer,  both  in  front  and  on  the  north,  and  stray  balls 
began  to  zip  and  whistle  around  our  ears  with  unpleasant  frequency.  Then 
we  saw  the  batteries  that  had  been  holding  the  position  in  advance  of  us 
limber  up  and  fall  back  toward  the  Seminary,  and  the  enemy  simultane 
ously  advance  his  batteries  down  the  road.  All  our  infantry  out  toward 
the  creek  on  both  sides  of  the  pike  began  to  fall  back. 

The  enemy  did  not  press  them  A*ery  closely,  but  halted  for  nearly  an 
hour  to  reform  his  lines,  which  had  been  very  much  shattered  by  the  battle 
of  the  forenoon.  At  last,  having  reformed  his  lines  behind  the  low  ridges 
in  front,  he  made  his  appearance  in  grand  shape.  His  line  stretched  from 
the  railroad  grading  across  the  Cashtown  Pike,  and  through  the  fields  south 
of  it  half  way  to  the  Fairfield  Road — nearly  a  mile  in  length.  First  we 
could  see  the  tips  of  their  color-staffs  coming  up  over  the  little  ridge,  then 
the  points  of  their  bayonets,  and  then  the  Johnnies  themselves,  coming 
on  with  a  steady  tramp,  tramp,  and  with  loud  yells.  It  was  now  ap 
parent  that  the  old  Battery's  turn  had  come  again,  and  the  embattled  boys 
who  stood  so  grimly  at  their  posts  felt  that  another  page  must  be  added  to 
the  record  of  Buena  Vista  and  Antietam.  The  term  "boys"  is  literally 
true,  because  of  our  gun  detachment  alone,  consisting  of  a  Sergeant,  two 
€orporals,  seven  Cannoneers  and  six  Drivers,  only  four  had  hair  on  their 


THE  "EMBATTLED  BOYS. 


67 


faces,  while  the  other  12  were  beardless  boys  whose  ages  would  not 
average  19  years,  and  who,  at  any  other  period  of  our  history,  would  have 
been  at  school !  The  same  was  more  or  less  true  of  all  the  other  gun  de 
tachments.  But  if  boys  in  years  they  were,  with  one  or  two  exceptions 
not  necessary  to  name,  veterans  in  battle,  and  braver  or  steadier  soldiers 
than  they  were  never  faced  a  foe  !  A  glance  along  our  line  at  that  moment 
would  have  been  a  rare  study  for  an  artist.  As  the  day  was  very  hot  many 
of  the  boys  had  their  jackets  off,  some  with  sleeves  rolled  up,  and  they 
exchanged  little  words  of  cheer  with  each  other  as  the  gray  line  came  on. 
In  quick,  sharp  tones,  like  successive  reports  of  a  repeating  rifle,  came 
Davison's  orders :  ' '  Load  —  Canister —  Double  ! ' '  There  was  a  hustling  of 
Cannoneers,  a  few  thumps  of  the  rammer-heads,  and  then  "Ready  ! — By 
piece  ! — At  will !  —  Fire  ! ! " 

In  order  that  the  situation  of  the  Battery  at  this  moment  may  be 
clearly  understood,  a  brief  survey  of  the  state  of  the  battle  is  necessary. 
We  were  formed,  as  previously  remarked,  "straddle"  of  the  Railroad  Cut, 


DIAGRAM  or  THE  RAILROAD  Cur. 

the  ' '  Old  Man ' '  with  the  three  guns  forming  the  right  half-battery  on  the 
north  side,  and  Davison  with  the  three  guns  of  the  left  half  on  the  south 
side.  Stewart's  three  guns  were  somewhat  in  advance  of  ours,  forming  a 
slight  echelon  in  half-battery,  while  our  three  guns  were  in  open  order, 
bringing  the  left  gun  close  to  the  Cashtown  Road.  We  were  formed  in  a 
small  field  just  west  of  Mrs.  Thompson's  dooryard,  and  our  guns  raked  the 
road  to  the  top  of  the  low  crest  forming  the  east  bank  of  Willoughby's 
Creek.  The  time  of  day  was  perhaps  2:30  or  3  p.  m.  At  all  events,  Hall's 
and  Reynolds's  batteries,  which  had  held  the  crest  in  our  front  all  morn 
ing,  had  retired  either  into  the  streets  of  Gettysburg  town  or  to  the  grove 
near  the  Seminary,  and  all  the  infantry  of  the  First  Corps  that  had  been 


68  THE  CANNONEER, 

lighting  in  onr  front  had  fallen  back,  except  the  invincible  remnants  of  the 
6th  Wisconsin  and  llth  Pennsylvania,  which  were  at  that  moment  filing 
across  the  Railroad  Cut  close  in  our  rear  to  support  us  in  our  final  struggle. 

Directly  in  our  front — that  is  to  say,  on  both  sides  of  the  pike  —  the 
Rebel  infantry,  whose  left  lapped  the  north  side  of  the  pike  quite  up  to  the 
line  of  the  railroad  grading,  had  been  forced  to  halt  and  lie  down  by  the 
tornado  of  canister  that  we  had  given  them  from  the  moment  they  came  in 
sight  over  the  bank  of  the  creek.  But  the  regiments  in  the  field  to  their 
right  (south  side)  of  the  pike  kept  on,  and  kept  swinging  their  right  flanks 
forward  as  if  to  take  us  in  reverse  or  cut  us  off  from  the  rest  of  our  troops 
near  the  Seminary.  At  this  moment  Davison,  bleeding  from  two  desperate 
wounds,  and  so  weak  that  one  of  the  men  had  to  hold  him  up  on  his  feet 
(one  ankle  being  totally  shattered  by  a  bullet),  ordered  us  to  form  the  half- 
battery,  action  left,  by  wheeling  on  the  left  gun  as  a  pivot,  so  as  to  bring 
the  half-battery  on  a  line  with  the  Cashtown  Pike,  muzzles  facing  south, 
his  object  being  to  rake  the  front  of  the  Rebel  line  closing  in  on  us  from 
that  side.  Of  the  four  men  left  at  our  gun  when  this  order  was  given  two 
had  bloody  heads,  but  they  were  still  "standing  by,"  and  Ord.  Serg't 
Mitchell  jumped  on  our  off  wheel  to  help  us.  ' '  This  is  tough  work,  boys, ' ' 
he  shouted,  as  we  wheeled  the  gun  around,  "but  we  are  good  for  it."  And 
Pat  Wallace,  tugging  at  the  near  wheel,  shouted  back:  "If  we  ain't, 
where '11  you  find  them  that  is  !  " 

Well,  this  change  of  front  gave  us  a  clean  rake  along  the  Rebel  line  for 
a  whole  brigade  length,  but  it  exposed  our  right  flank  to  the  raking  volleys 
of  their  infantry  near  the  pike,  who  at  that  moment  began  to  get  up  again 
and  come  on.  Then  for  seven  or  eight  minutes  ensued  probably  the  most 
desperate  fight  ever  waged  between  artillery  and  infantry  at  close  range 
without  a  particle  of  cover  on  either  side.  They  gave  us  volley  after  volley 
in  front  and  flank,  and  we  gave  them  double  canister  as  fast  as  we  could 
load.  The  6th  Wisconsin  and  llth  Pennsylvania  men  crawled  up  over  the 
bank  of  the  cut  or  behind  the  rail  fence  in  rear  of  Stewart's  caissons  and 
joined  their  musketry  to  our  canister,  while  from  the  north  side  of  the  cut 
flashed  the  chain-lightning  of  the  Old  Man's  half-battery  in  one  solid 
streak ! 

At  this  time  our  left  half-battery,  taking  their  first  line  en  eckarpe, 
swept  it  so  clean  with  double  canister  that  the  Rebels  sagged  away  from 
the  road  to  get  cover  from  the  fences  and  trees  that  lined  it.  From  our 
second  round  on  a  gray  squirrel  could  not  have  crossed  the  road  alive. 

How  those  peerless  Cannoneers  sprang  to  their  work!  Twenty-six 
years  have  but  softened  in  memory  the  picture  of  "Old  Griff"  (Wallace), 
his  tough  Irish  face  set  in  hard  lines  with  the  unflinching  resolution 
that  filled  his  soul,  while  he  sponged  and  loaded  under  that  murderous 
musketry  with  the  precision  of  barrack  drill ;  of  the  burly  Corporal,  bare 
headed,  his  hair  matted  with  blood  from  a  scalp  wound,  and  wiping  the 
crimson  fluid  out  of  his  eyes  to  sight  the  gun  ;  of  the  steady  Orderly  Ser 
geant,  John  Mitchell,  moving  calmly  from  gun  to  gun,  now  and  then 


THE  FINAL  STRUGGLE. 


70  THE  CANNONEER. 

changing  men  about  as  one  after  another  was  hit  and  fell,  stooping  over  a 
wounded  man  to  help  him  up,  or  aiding  another  to  stagger  to  the  rear ;  of 
the  dauntless  Davison  on  foot  among  the  guns,  cheering  the  men,  praising 
this  one  and  that  one,  and  ever  and  anon  profanely  exhorting  us  to  "  Feed 

it  to  'em,  G d em;  feed  it  to  'em  ! "    The  very  guns  became  things 

of  life — not  implements,  but  comrades.  Every  man  was  doing  the  work 
of  two  or  three.  At  our  gun  at  the  finish  there  were  only  the  Corporal, 
No.  1  and  No.  3,  with  two  drivers  fetching  ammunition.  The  water  in 
Pat's  bucket  was  like  ink.  His  face  and  hands  were  smeared  all  over  with 
burnt  powder.  The  thumbstall  of  No.  3  was  burned  to  a  crisp  by  the  hot 
vent-field.  Between  the  black  of  the  burnt  powder  and  the  crimson  streaks 
from  his  bloody  head,  Packard  looked  like  a  demon  from  below  !  Up  and 
down  the  line  men  reeling  and  falling ;  splinters  flying  from  wheels  and 
axles  where  bullets  hit ;  in  rear,  horses  tearing  and  plunging,  mad  with 
wounds  or  terror ;  drivers  yelling,  shells  bursting,  shot  shrieking  over 
head,  howling  about  our  ears  or  throwing  up  great  clouds  of  dust  where 
they  struck;  the  musketry  crashing  on  three  sides  of  us;  bullets  hissing, 
humming  and  whistling  everywhere;  cannon  roaring ;  all  crash  on  crash 
and  peal  on  peal,  smoke,  dust,  splinters,  blood,  wreck  and  carnage  inde 
scribable;  but  the  brass  guns  of  Old  B  still  bellowed  and  not  a  man  or  boy 
flinched  or  faltered  !  Every  man's  shirt  soaked  with  sweat  and  many  of 
them  sopped  with  blood  from  wounds  not  severe  enough  to  make  such  bull 
dogs  "let  go" — bareheaded,  sleeves  rolled  up,  faces  blackened — oh!  if 
such  a  picture  could  be  spread  on  canvas  to  the  life  !  Out  in  front  of  us  an 
undulating  field,  filled  almost  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  with  a  long,  low, 
gray  line  creeping  toward  us,  fairly  fringed  with  flame  ! 

On  every  side  the  passion,  rage  and  frenzy  of  fearless  men  or  reckless 
boys  devoted  to  slaughter  or  doomed  to  death  !  The  same  sun  that  a  day 
before  had  been  shining  to  cure  the  wheat-sheaves  of  the  harvest  of  peace, 
now  glared  to  pierce  the  gray  pall  of  battle's  powder  smoke  or  to  bloat  the 
corpses  of  battle's  victims.  How  strange  it  is  to  think  of  now  ! 

When  this  desperate  work  began  I  had  stood  close  in  to  the  gun  in 
thumbing  vent,  standing  bolt  upright  according  to  the  letter  of  the  manual, 
arching  my  left  arm  and  resting  my  fingers  on  the  gun.  I  was  wearing 
my  jacket,  and  had  the  two  top  buttons  buttoned.  About  our  third  load  a 
bullet  from  the  enemy  behind  the  fence  on  our  flank  tore  through  the 
breast  of  the  jacket,  making  the  cloth  fly  and  carrying  away  the  second 
button  from  the  top.  It  hurt  like  a  sharp  blow  of  a  whip;  but,  running 
my  finger  along  the  track  of  the  bullet,  I  saw  that  the  skin  was  not  broken. 
Packard,  who  had  his  hands  on  the  screw  at  that  moment  in  the  act  of 
"letting  her  muzzle  down"  a  little,  noticed  this  and  called  out :  "Stretch 
out  your  arm,  '  Cub, '  and  get  down  by  the  wheel !  Get  cover  of  the 
wheel !  Quick  !  This  is  hotter  'n  h — 1 ! ! "  The  wheel  of  a  12-pounder 
Napoleon,  with  its  deep  felloes  and  its  huge  spokes,  affords  considerable 
cover  for  No.  3  against  either  a  flank  fire  or  fire  en  echarpe  from  infantry. 
My  breast  had  a  red  welt  across  it,  and  was  sore  for  several  days. 


SENSATIONS  UNDEE  FIKE.  7j 

The  question  most  frequently  asked  of  a  soldier  who  has  been  in  action 
is  :  "  How  do  you  feel  when  under  fire  ? ' '  Leaving  others  to  relate  their  own 
experiences  on  this  score  the  writer  desires  to  say  simply  that  he  felt  like 
hurting  the  enemy  as  much  as  possible  in  the  shortest  time,  and  wanted 
above  all  things  to  whip  the  fight.  The  sensation  did  not  differ  materi 
ally  from  that  which  I  had  experienced  in  boyish  rough-and-tumble  fights 
about  my  native  village  or  at  school.  Doubtless  artillerymen ,  when  exposed 


to  a  murderous  fusillade  at  close  range,  such  as  that  was  at  the  Gettysburg 
Railroad  Cut,  are  called  upon  to  exhibit  a  pretty  good  average  of  the  stay 
ing  quality,  and  this  requirement  is  necessarily  increased  in  the  case  of  a 
battery  of  established  reputation.  The  men  and  boys  who  fought  our 
guns  there  were  all  conversant  with  the  history  of  the  Battery,  and  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  not  one  of  them  was  willing  that  the  laurels  of  Plattsburg, 
Buena  Vista  or  Antietam  should  wither,  by  so  much  as  one  leaf,  at  Gettys 
burg.  Whatever  may  be  the  opportunities  of  infantrymen  to  get  cover  in 
battle,  every  one  who  has  ever  seen  open  field  fighting  will  admit  that  the 


72  THE  CANNONEER. 

artilleryman,  when  the  supreme  moment  comes,  has  to  stand  up  and  take 
his  medicine  like  a  little  man.  For  him  trees,  fences  and  boulders  or  im 
provised  rifle-pits  mean  nothing.  There  can  be  no  skulking  in  a  gun 
detachment.  If  one  man  on  a  gun  flinches  or  skulks  his  cowardice  must 
be  instantly  perceived  by  every  other  man  on  that  gun,  because  each  gun 
number  is  like  a  cog-wheel  in  a  perfect  machine,  and  if  he  fails  to  do  his 
work  every  other  human  cog-wheel  will  be  "thrown  out  of  gear."  For 
this  reason  it  is  very  seldom  that  artillerymen  flinch  from  their  guns  even 
in  the  most  fearful  butcheries.  The  history  of  all  wrars  is  replete  with 
instances  where  Cannoneers  and  Drivers  have  staid  at  their  posts  to  l)e  liter 
ally  murdered  by  attacking  infantry  or  hewn  down  by  charging  cavalry  or 
mangled  by  the  shot  and  shell  of  hostile  batteries,  while  the  instances  of 
different  l>ehavior  are  comparatively  few.  Besides,  there  is  something  in 
the  "atmosphere  "  of  a  battery  in  action  that  holds  its  men  to  their  work. 
As  a  rule,  a  battery  in  action  will  be  the  central  figure  of  an  important  operar 
tion  or  the  focus  of  a  desperate  combat.  Its  men  instantly  appreciate  the 
prominence  of  their  station  and  the  fact  that  their  behavior  is  necessarily 
subject  to  general  observation.  Moreover,  the  number  of  individuals  en 
gaged  in  working  a  battery  is  small  in  comparison  with  other  arms  of  the 
service,  so  that  each  Cannoneer  feels  that  his  personal  behavior  is  being 
specially  observed  by  all  the  infantrymen  or  cavalrymen  who  can  see  him. 
The  consequence  is  a  sensation  of  noblesse  oblige,  which  often  compels  artil 
lerymen  to  stand  up  and  be  slaughtered  in  their  tracks  when,  really,  retreat 
or  even  flight  would  be  the  more  sensible  thing.  There  have  been  instances 
of  Cannoneers  refusing  to  abandon  their  guns  when  ordered  to  do  so  by 
their  own  officers.  To  sum  up,  an  artilleryman  has  to  fight ! 

In  our  Battery — and  the  same  was  true  of  many  others — the  esprit  du 
corps  ran  so  high  that  the  rawest  recruit  instantly  became  imbued  with  it 
as  soon  as  he  joined.  Everybody  was  always  setting  an  example  for  every 
body  else.  We  had  before  us  the  calm,  placid  resolution  of  Stewart ;  the 
grim,  stoical  pluck  of  Davisoii ;  the  enthusiastic  gallantry  of  Mitchell ;  and 
in  our  Sergeants  we  always  saw  the  sullen  indifference  to  danger  which 
marked  "  Old  Bull"  McBride,  whose  stolid  apathy  always  grew  with  the 
battle  ;  the  rollicking  Irish  recklessness  of  Jimmy  Maher ;  the  quiet  sang 
froid  of  Ned  Armstrong ;  the  methodical  nerve  of  Henry  Moore  ;  the  smil 
ing  chivalry  of  the  handsome  Thorpe,  who  would  take  off  his  cap  and 
"  fluff  up  "  his  dark  curly  hair  with  his  fingers  in  the  hottest  action  !  In 
short,  this  spirit  was  universal,  each  man  in  his  own  way,  even  to  our 
"baby  bugler,"  little  Cook,  who,  though  a  child  of  14  or  15  years,  never 
flinched  anywhere  or  from  anything. 

On  one  occasion  a  lead  driver  had  dismounted  without  orders  while  at 
a  halt  under  shell  fire.  He  remounted  at  the  muzzle  of  Stewart's  revolver  ! 
At  roll  call  after  the  action  this  man  was  ordered  to  step  out,  and  Stewart 
told  him  in  the  presence  of  the  company  that  he  must  go  back  to  his  volun 
teer  regiment ;  that  he  (Stewart)  would  inform  his  Colonel  that  he  was 
not  made  of  the  stuff  required  in  that  Battery  and  was  not  fit  to  associate 


IN  A  HOT  CORNER.  73 

with  its  men  and  boys,  and  therefore  he  must  send  him  back  and  ask  his 
Colonel  to  give  him  a  man  of  courage  in  his  place.  There  was  not  another 
man  or  boy  in  the  Battery  who  would  not  rather  have  been  shot  than 
receive  such  an  awful  sentence  as  that.  Such  were  the  feelings  and  im 
pulses  of  the  men  and  boys  of  Battery  B  in  the  crisis  of  battle  ! 

For  a  few  moments  the  whole  Rebel  line,  clear  down  to  the  Fair-field 
Road,  seemed  to  waver,  and  we  thought  that  maybe  we  could  repulse  them, 
single  handed  as  we  were.  At  any  rate,  about  our  fifth  or  sixth  round  after 
changing  front  made  their  first  line  south  of  the  pike  halt,  and  many  of 
them  sought  cover  behind  trees  in  the  field  or  ran  back  to  the  rail  fence 
parallel  to  the  pike  at  that  point,  from  which  they  resumed  their  musketry. 
But  their  second  line  came  steadily  on,  and  as  Davison  had  now  succumbed 
to  his  wounds  Ord.  Serg't  Mitchell  took  command  and  gave  the  order  to 
limber  to  the  rear,  the  6th  Wisconsin  and  the  llth  Pennsylvania  having 
begun  to  fall  back  down  the  railroad  track  toward  the  town,  turning  alx>ut 
and  firing  at  will  as  they  retreated.  At  the  same  time  Stewart  began  to 
limber  up  his  half-battery  on  the  north  side  of  the  cut,  but,  as  we  could 
swing  directly  into  the  pike  where  we  were,  while  he  had  to  come  down 
through  the  pasture  and  across  the  railroad  grading  before  getting  into  the 
smooth  road,  we  got  into  the  town  15  or  20  rods  ahead  of  him. 

The  Rebels  could  have  captured  or  destroyed  our  left  half- battery — 
and  perhaps  Stewart's,  too — if  they  had  made  a  sharp  rush  on  both  sides 
of  the  pike  as  we  were  limbering  up,  because  as  our  last  gun  (the  right 
gun  of  the  left  half-battery)  moved  off  their  leading  men  south  of  the  pike 
were  within  50  yards  of  us !  But  they  contented  themselves  with  file-firing, 
and  did  not  come  on  with  the  cold  steel.  However,  as  soon  as  they  saw 
the  limbers  coming  up  the  Rebels  redoubled  their  fire  both  in  front  and  on 
our  left  flank,  their  object  apparently  being  to  cripple  our  teams  so  we 
would  have  to  adandon  the  guns.  They  hit  several  horses,  three  or  four  of 
the  drivers  and  two  or  three  more  of  the  remaining  Cannoneers  while  we 
were  limbering  up.  During  all  this  wreck  and  carnage  Serg't  Mitchell 
was  perfectly  cool,  and  all  the  men,  following  his  example,  were  steady. 
The  Driver  of  our  swing  team  being  hit  as  they  wheeled  the  limber  to 
' '  hook  on, ' '  Mitchell  ordered  me  to  mount  his  team.  Just  then  the  off 
leader  was  shot  and  went  down  all  in  a  heap.  But  Mitchell  and  Thorpe 
had  him  cut  out  of  the  traces  sooner  than  it  can  be  told,  and  off  we  went 
•down  the  pike  toward  the  town,  che  nearest  houses  of  which  were  about  a 
third  of  a  mile  off.  By  the  time  we  had  got  into  the  town  the  other  half- 
battery  had  come  up,  and  the  6th  Wisconsin,  which  had  formed  across  the 
street,  opened  to  let  us  pass.  Adj't  Brooks,  of  the  6th,  having  a  musket 
in  his  hand,  was  loading  and  firing  with  the  troops  ;  in  fact,  most  of  the 
officers  were  doing  the  same  thing.  Col.  Rufus  Dawes  was  in  command  at 
this  point,  and  he  had,  besides  his  own  regiment — or  the  remnant  of  it  — 
a  miscellaneous  lot  from  several  other  commands  whom  he  had  rallied 
in  the  edge  of  the  town.  As  the  Battery  entered  the  town  Col.  Lucius 
-Fairchild,  of  the  2d  Wisconsin,  was  sitting  on  the  porch  of  a  house  close 


74  THE  CANNONEER. 

to  the  road.  He  had  been  wounded  in  the  battle  of  the  forenoon,  and 
his  left  arm  had  just  been  amputated.  But  he  waved  his  remaining 
hand  to  us  and  called  out :  "  Stick  to  'em,  boys !  Stay  with  'em ! ! 
You'll  fetch  'em,  finally  ! ! "  We  passed  on,  and  Col.  Fairchild  was  taken 
prisoner  when  the  enemy  occupied  the  town.  He  was  very  w^ell  known 
and  popular  in  the  Battery,  some  of  our  best  men  being  from  his 
regiment,  and  his  ringing  words  of  cheer  under  such  circumstances  did 
us  much  good.  '  Mitchell  had  halted  the  half-battery  just  beyond  the 
little  house  where  Col.  Fairchild  had  found  hospital,  and  we  "prolonged" 
"Old  Betsey"— the  rear  gun  —  in  the  street  and  stood  by  to  load. 
John  said  he  was  afraid  that  the  Old  Man  had  been  gobbled  up,  but  we 
would  wait  there  a  few  minutes  so  as  to  be  able  to  help  him,  if  necessary. 
But  in  a  few  minutes  Johnny  Cook  came  down  the  road  and  said  that 
McBride  was  coming  with  all  of  the  right  half-battery,  and  that  Stewart 
would  soon  be  along,  as  he  was  only  waiting  to  have  some  of  his  caissons 
destroyed  which  had  been  disabled.  I  was  astonished  at  the  caution  of 
the  enemy  at  this  time.  He  seemed  to  be  utterly  paralyzed  at  the 
punishment  lie  had  received  from  the  First  Corps,  and  was  literally 
"feeling  every  inch  of  his  way"  in  his  advance  on  our  front.  Riding 
the  swing  team  on  our  gun,  I  kept  looking  over  my  shoulder  to  see  him 
come  on,  and  wondered  why  he  was  so  cautious,  knowing,  as  I  did,  that 
none  of  our  troops  were  left  in  the  position  that  we  had  just  abandoned. 

Capt.  Jim  Hall,  of  the  2d  Maine,  had  a  section  of  his  battery  formed 
at  the  first  cross  street  we  came  to,  with  fixed  prolonge,  and  we  heard  him 
open  on  the  advancing  enemy  as  soon  as  the  6th  Wisconsin  cleared  his 
front.  This  retreat  into  the  town,  and  our  subsequent  march  up  the  hill 
to  our  new  position  near  the  Cemetery  gate,  was  perfectly  cool  and  orderly. 
There  was  not  a  sign  of  confusion,  much  less  panic,  in  the  First  Corps. 
The  troops  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  were  swarming  into  the  town  from  the 
north  at  the  same  time. 

Without  doubt  the  Rebels  could  have  got  on  top  of  us  by  a  sharp  rush 
while  we  were  limbering  up,  and  we  could  not  comprehend  their  failure  to 
do  so.  Everybody  expected  that  we  would  be  taken.  But  their  General 
(Heth)  has  told  me  since  the  war  that  they  did  not  understand  the  situa 
tion,  not  being  able  to  conceive  that  a  battery  would  hold  such  a  position 
so  long  without  adequate  infantry  support,  and  being  convinced  that  the 
Railroad  Cut  behind  us  must  have  been  full  of  concealed  infantry  waiting 
for  them  to  come  on.  Besides,  Heth's  Division  had  been  frightfully  pun 
ished  during  its  advance  from  Willoughby's  Creek,  having  lost  over  2,500 
men,  or  nearly  one-third  of  its  force,  while  the  two  brigades  of  Fender's 
Division  that  had  come  in  on  our  left,  south  of  the  pike,  had  suffered  ter 
ribly  from  our  enfilading  canister,  losing  several  hundred  men,  including 
Gens.  Fender  and  Scales — the  first  mortally  and  the  latter  severely 
wounded  —  within  a  few  minutes. 

Of  course  no  one  claims  that  all  this  execution  was  done  by  our  Bat 
tery,  because  there  was  a  section  of  Reynolds's  1st  New  York  on  the  rising 


STEWAET'S  ESCAPE.  75' 

ground  to  our  left  rear  toward  the  Seminary,  playing  on  them  with  every 
thing  it  could  muster,  and  Stevens's  old  5th  Maine  was  blazing  from  the 
brow  of  the  ridge,  while  the  6th  Wisconsin's  musketry  and  that  of  the  llth 
Pennsylvania  was  humming  in  our  ears  from  the  Railroad  Cut  behind  us, 
and  there  was  a  straggling  infantry  fire  from  detachments  all  along  the 
ridge.  But,  allowing  for  all  these  facts,  it  is  true  that  Battery  B  was  in 
the  wide  open  jaws  of  the  battle  there  ;  that  it  stood  its  ground  till  all  the 
rest  were  gone,  and  that  Capt.  Stewart  was  the  last  man  to  leave  the  Union 
position  on  Seminary  Ridge,  anywhere  west  of  the  Seminary  itself. 

There  was  some  difficulty  about  limbering  up  the  last  gun  of  the  right 
half-battery,  and  it  did  not  start  off  at  its  proper  distance  in  column  ;  so, 
as  there  was  a  good  deal  of  smoke  and  confusion  about  that  time,  we 
thought  the  gun  was  lost.  "We  were  happily  disappointed  when  this  gun 
joined  us  as  we  halted  in  the  main  street  of  Gettj^sburg  village,  awaiting 
orders  as  to  the  position  we  should  take  up  on  the  Cemetery  Ridge.  This 
gun  and  its  crew  had  a  close  call.  On  this  occasion  the  difficulty  in  lim 
bering  up  was  due  to  the  pintle-hook  being  broken  off,  so  that  the  trail  had 
to  be  fastened  up  with  the  prolonge.  But  after  the  gun  was  thus  patched 
up  and  started  off,  the  indomitable  Stewart  repeatedly  halted  and  fired 
rounds  of  double  canister  into  the  pursuing  enemy  at  distances  less  than 
100  yards !  It  is  a  pity  that  Capt.  Stewart's  official  report  of  the  action  of 
the  Battery  at  Gettysburg  has  not  been  preserved,  and  hence  cannot  appear 
in  the  War  Records.  It  would  be  valuable  as  a  military  paper  on  the  art 
of  extricating  batteries  from  almost  hopeless  positions.  Gen.  Doubleday, 
who  stationed  the  Battery  at  the  Railroad  Cut,  will  probably  admit  that 
he  expected  that  it  would  be  sacrificed,'  as  he  put  it  there  to  cover  the 
general  retreat.  The  withdrawal  of  the  left  half-battery  has  already  been 
described,  and  the  following  letter  from  Capt.  Stewart  to  the  author  de 
tails  that  of  the  right  half.  The  Captain  writes  me : 

I  did  not  leave  the  position  until  notified  by  an  Aid  of  Gen.  John  C.  Robin 
son  that  his  division  had  fallen  back,  and  that  there  was  no  infantry  left  to 
support  me. 

When  I  got  my  half -battery  on  the  road  I  ordered  Serg't  McBride  (a  better 
man  never  wore  the  uniform  of  a  Sergeant)  to  move  toward  Gettysburg.  I 
then  rode  to  where  I  had  placed  Lieut.  Davison,  not  knowing  that  Gen.  Wads- 
worth  had  already  fallen  back  and  taken  the  half -battery  that  Davison  com 
manded  with  him.  In  riding  to  the  position  which  Davison  had  occupied  I 
found  it  occupied  by  Heth's  troops  of  A.  P.  Hill's  Corps.  I  was  called  upon  to 
surrender,  but  of  course  did  not  see  it  in  that  light,  not  being  there  for  that 
purpose.  I  wheeled  my  horse  about,  when  they  sent  a  volley  after  me.  I  made 
my  escape,  with  two  bullet  holes  through  my  blouse.  I  then  rode  over  to  the 
road  in  which  Serg't  McBride  with  the  half-battery  was  leading  to  Gettysburg. 
I  found  that  occupied  by  Rebels.  I  then  had  to  start  in  another  direction, 
when  I  found  I  was  completely  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  they  calling  upon 
me  to  halt.  I  headed  my  horse  toward  a  fence  and  the  horse  took  the  fence 
splendidly,  but  just  as  I  was  crossing  I  was  hit  on  the  thigh  by  a  piece  of 
shell.  At  first  I  thought  my  leg  was  broken,  but  after  feeling  it  I  found  I  was 
all  right,  but  got  so  nauseated  that,  after  riding  about  a  hundred  yards,  and 
seeing  a  little  water  in  one  of  the  furrows  of  the  field,  I  got  off  my  horse,  drank 
a  little,  bathed  my  face,  and  feeling  some  relief  I  mounted  again.  I  had  gone 


76  THE  CANNONEER. 

but  a  short  distance  when  I  found  one  of  ray  caissons  with  the  rear  axle  broken* 
One  of  my  men  (and  to  the  best  of  my  recollection  it  was  Private  Winneld 
Scott  Williams)  was  there  at  the  caisson  taking-  out  round  after  round  of  am 
munition  and  destroying  the  charges  of  powder,  so  that  the  enemy  could  not 
use  them  against  us.  I  waited  with  him  till  he  had  the  last  round  destroyed- 
I  then  told  him  to  come  with  me,  and  on  entering  the  town  I  found  my  Battery 
together.  It  was  then  that  I  learned  Lieut.  Davison  had  been  wounded  and 
taken  to  the  hospital.  I  will  state  that  before  I  got  Serg't  McBride  upon  the 
road  we  had  to  fire  upon  the  enemy  with  canister,  in  order  to  check  them. 
They  did  not  appear  to  me  to  be  any  regular  organization,  but  detached  bodies, 
and  all  making  their  best  endeavor  to  cut  us  off.  After  firing  several  rounds 
to  the  right,  front  and  left  we  had  no  further  difficulty  in  moving  off.  We 
lost  a  good  many  Drivers  and  Cannoneers  before  getting  on  the  road  lead 
ing  to  town.  When  I  reached  Cemetery  Hill  I  was  halted  by  Gen.  Hancock, 
who  asked  me  where  my  Battery  was.  I  told  him  it  was  coming  up  the  road. 
He  then  ordered  me  to  place  my  guns,  or  as  many  as  I  could  work,  on  the  pike 
in  front  of  the  Cemetery  gate,  and  the  others  at  right  angles  with  them,  to  bear 
upon  the  enemy  approaching  from  that  direction. 

The  General  ordered  me  to  remain  in  that  position  until  he  relieved  me  in 
person,  and  to  take  no  orders  from  any  one  else.  I  remained  in  that  position 
from  the  afternoon  of  the  1st  till  the  morning  of  the  5th. 

It  was  said  among  the  boys  that  the  Captain  used  his  revolvers  with 
effect  on  the  enemy's  infantry  who  tried  to  intercept  him  at  the  stone 
wall,  but  he  always  avoided  discussion  of  the  matter,  and  so  probably  the 
actual  facts  will  never  be  known. 

While  we  were  retreating  down  the  pike  the  Rebels  closed  in  on  us  from 
their  right  (south  side  of  the  road)  and  kept  up  a  running  fire.  Several 
of  our  men  were  hit  at  this  time,  among  them  Dan  Ackerman,  who  fell  off 
his  team,  and  was  supposed  to  be  killed.  But  during  the  forenoon  of  July 
4,  after  the  enemy  had  evacuated  the  town,  our  invincible  Dan  was  seen 
limping  up  the  hill  toward  the  Battery,  where,  of  course,  he  was  received 
with  open  arms.  This  is  literally  true,  because  Dan  was  one  of  the  very 
bravest  and  most  orderly  boys  in  the  Battery,  and  a  particular  favorite  of 
the  Old  Man,  who  had  given  him  up  for  dead.  So,  when  he  came  back, 
"somewhat  disfigured  but  still  in  the  ring,"  Stewart,  whose  own  leg  was 
so  badly  hurt  that  he  could  hardly  stand  up,  put  his  arms  around  Dan's 
neck  and  gave  him  a  good  hug  in  the  presence  of  the  Battery,  or  what  was 
left  of  it !  But,  after  congratulating  Dan  on  his  escape,  we  discovered  that 
his  wound  was  very  severe,  and  even  dangerous ;  so  that  Stewart  ordered 
him  to  go  over  to  Dr.  Ward,  of  the  Iron  Brigade,  for  examination.  The 
result  of  this  was  that  our  gallant  Dan  did  not  rejoin  the  Battery  again 
until  just  before  the  beginning  of  the  Wilderness  campaign,  which  he  went 
through  from  the  Rapidan  to  the  Jerusalem  Plank  Road.  I  mention  him 
simply  as  a  specimen  of  the  sort  of  boys  we  had.  Others  did  quite  as  well, 
but  none  better. 

Comrade  Henry  G.  Klinefelter,  who  was  Cannoneer  (No.  1)  on  the 
gun  that  had  so  much  difficulty  in  getting  off  (Ned  Armstrong's),  says 
that  they  fired  several  rounds  of  triple  canister  —  that  is  to  say,  three  can 
isters  in  each  load  —  before  getting  into  the  road,  and  that  the  lead  driver 
on  their  gun,  Mate  Freeman,  had  both  his  horses  wounded,  but  managed 


A  VIKGIN  BATTERY.  77 

to  hold  them  to  their  work  until  they  got  into  the  town.  He  also  says 
that  the  behavior  of  Serg't  Ned  Armstrong,  chief  of  that  piece,  was 
exceedingly  gallant. 

Gen.  R.  R.  Dawes,  then  Lieutenant-Colonel  commanding  the  6th  Wis 
consin,  says : 

As  the  6th  Wisconsin  and  Battery  B  clung  together  in  the  fight,  so  we 
stood  by  each  other  in  the  retreat.  The  skilful  extrication  of  both  commands 
has  not  been  fully  appreciated.  Neither  Stewart  nor  I  had  any  instructions 
until  Lieut.  Clayton  Rogers  brought  us  the  order  to  "  retreat  beyond  the  city," 
and  it  was  then  every  fellow  for  himself.  Gen.  A.  W.  Scales,  of  North  Caro 
lina,  and  I  went  over  this  ground  together  in  1882.  Battery  B  almost  destroyed 
his  brigade ! 

Gen.  Dawes  also  remarks  that  "his  Adjutant,  Lieut.  E.  P.  Brooks,  a 
boy  of  20  years,  behaved  with  the  most  distinguished  gallantry  in  every 
phase  of  the  battle." 

Gen.  Doubleday,  in  his  history  of  Gettysburg,  [see  Doubleday's 
"Gettysburg,"  page  155,]  says:  "It  was  said  that  during  the  retreat  of 
the  artillery  one  piece  of  Stewart's  Battery  did  not  limber  up  as  soon 
as  the  others.  A  Rebel  officer  rushed  forward,  placed  his  hand  upon  it, 
and  presenting  a  revolver  at  the  back  of  the  driver  directed  him  not 
to  drive  off  with  the  piece.  The  latter  did  so,  however,  received  a 
bullet  in  his  body,  caught  up  with  the  Battery,  and  then  fell  dead." 
But  Gen.  Doubleday  also  says  that  he  "had  no  opportunity  to  verify 
this." 

Gen.  Doubleday  must  have  been  to  some  extent  misinformed.  The 
"wheel  driver"  on  that  gun  was  certainly  shot  in  the  back  as  they 
moved  off.  He  was  mortally  wounded,  but  stuck  to  his  saddle  till 
the  gun  got  into  the  town.  But  no  "Rebel  officer  put  his  hand  on 
the  gun."  No  Rebel  hand  was  ever  laid  on  any  gun  of  Stewart's  Battery 
in  any  battle  of  the  war,  from  Bull  Run  to  Appomattox.  This  is  a 
matter  of  no  historical  importance  in  the  general  sense,  but  in  the  par 
ticular  history  of  the  Battery  it  is  all  important.  It  was  always  our 
proudest  boast  that  she  was  a  virgin  battery  !  Because,  though  in  battle 
many  times,  and  in  the  wide-open  jaws  of  death  more  than  once,  not 
one  of  her  bright  guns  had  ever  been  defiled  by  the  touch  of  a  Rebel  hand  ! 

However,  we  got  off  at  last,  even  if  it  was  by  the  skin  of  our 
teeth,  and  before  sundown  were  in  position  again  on  the  north  brow  of 
Cemetery  Hill.  The  excitement  of  the  fighting  had  now  passed  away 
temporarily,  and  after  hunger  had  been  dispelled  by  a  slice  of  cold  boiled 
pork  and  three  or  four  hardtack,  washed  down  with  water  —  for  there 
was  no  opportunity  to  make  coffee  —  we  began  to  "take  account  of  stock." 
Of  course,  in  the  tremendous  excitement  and  fierce  activity  of  the  final 
struggle,  when  every  man  was  straining  every  nerve,  and  every  gun  being 
fired  at  will  as  fast  as  it  could  be  loaded,  there  was  no  opportunity  to 
notice  who  was  hit.  It  was  in  these  few  minutes,  and  while  we  were 
retreating  into  the  town,  that  the  bulk  of  our  losses  occurred.  And  when 
we  had  arrived  at  our  new  position  on  Cemetery  Hill,  out  of  range, 


78  THE  CAXXOXEEE. 

and  got  a  chance  to  draw  a  long  breath,  we  were  appalled  at  the  number 
who  had  disappeared  from  the  ranks.  Lieut.  Davison  was  gone,  having 
received  two  severe  wounds  at  the  very  last  of  the  struggle.  Some  of 
the  men  said  he  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  but  that  turned 
out  to  be  a  mistake.  Three  men  had  been  killed  outright  that  we  knew 
of  and  33  wounded,  of  whom  three  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and 
were  never  afterward  heard  of ;  while  of  the  rest  that  got  off,  three  subse 
quently  died  of  their  wounds,  about  12  were  permanently  disabled,  and 
12  or  13,  who  were  less  severely  hurt,  tied  up  their  own  wounds  with  tent- 
cloths,  or  whatever  rags  they  could  get,  and  remained  with  the  guns.  The 
bullet  that  tore  through  the  breast  of  my  jacket  did  not  break  the  skin, 
but  it  made  my  breast  sore  for  several  days.  The  guns  and  caissons,  with 
the  teams,  had  been  handled  quite  as  roughly  as  the  men.  We  had  got 
away  with  all  the  guns,  but  two  of  them  were  so  disabled  by  their 
carriages  being  hit  or  pointing-rings  being  broken,  etc.,  that  we  could 
not  use  them  any  more  in  the  rest  of  the  battle.  One  caisson  had 
been  hit  with  a  shell  and  blown  up,  and  just  before  we  got  into  the  town 
three  others  had  their  wheels  or  axle-trees  smashed  by  shot,  so  that 
the  drivers  abandoned  them  and  came  off  with  the  limber-chests  alone. 
Serg't  Henry  Moore,  who  had  charge  of  the  caissons  of  the  right  half- 
battery,  and  McDougall,  who  commanded  ours,  were  complimented  on 
their  conduct  in  the  retreat.  Of  the  horses  about  12  had  been  killed  out 
right,  and  several  more  were  so  badly  hurt  that  they  had  to  be  shot  to 
"put  them  out  of  their  miser y." 

The  near  horse  of  the  "swing  team"  on  our  gun,  which  Mitchell 
ordered  me  to  mount  when  his  driver  (Smith)  was  wounded,  was  one  of 
these.  He  had  been  hit  in  the  side  with  a  piece  of  shell — which  could 
not  have  missed  my  leg  more  than  two  inches — just  as  we  swung  into  the 
Cashtown  Road.  He  flinched  under  me  as  the  iron  struck  him,  but  did  not 
fall,  and  between  my  urging  and  the  help  of  the  lead  horse  we  pulled  him 
through  until  the  halt,  when  he  was  cut  out  of  the  team.  As  his  entrails 
were  protruding  from  the  wound,  Packard  shot  him  at  once  to  put  him  out 
of  his  misery,  and  that  left  only  four  horses  on  our  gun.  It  is  worth  while 
to  say  that  when  Packard  went  to  shoot  this  poor  horse  he  had  to  borrow 
Johnny  Cook's  revolver  to  do  it  with,  as  every  revolver  in  our  gun  detach 
ment  had  been  emptied  at  the  enemy  during  the  retreat,  when  they  kept 
filing  along  the  fence  and  shooting  at  us. 

As  this  loss  of  36  men  was  out  of  a  total  of  90-odd  present  for  duty  in 
the  morning,  with  both  of  the  commissioned  officers  hit,  and  one  of  them 
permanently  disabled,  while  nearly  half  our  horses  were  hit  and  one-third 
of  our  guns  and  half  our  caissons  destroyed  or  disabled,  it  will  be  agreed 
that  it  was  a  pretty  rugged  experience.  And  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
all  this  terrific  execution  had  been  done  in  the  last  half  hour  of  the  fight, 
tind  most  of  it  in  five  or  six  minutes,  when  we  were  exposed  to  a  close  and 
deadly  fire  of  infantry  in  front  and  on  the  left,  and  an  enfilade  by  three  or 
four  batteries  at  close  range  on  the  right. 


THE  CEMETERY  GATE.  79 

It  may  have  been  about  5  o'clock  -when  we  got  fairly  into  our  new 
position  on  Cemetery  Hill.  It  was  much  like  the  one  we  had  taken  up  in 
the  morning,  in  that  it  was  in  a  certain  sense  in  reserve  ;  that  is,  it  was 
considerably  behind  the  advance  line,  as  there  was  both  artillery  and  in 
fantry  in  some  force  ahead  of  us,  and  we  were  on  about  the  highest  ground 
the  position  afforded.  We  all  expected  that  the  enemy  would  attack  our 
new  position  at  once.  It  was  plainly  to  be  seen  from  the  hill  that  fresh 
troops  of  theirs  were  coming  up  all  the  time,  particularly  from  the  north, 
or  along  the  Carlisle  Eoad.  Two  hours  of  daylight  remained,  and  it  was 
but  natural  to  suppose  that  the  Eebels  would  be  flushed  with  their  success 
in  the  battle  of  the  forepart  of  the  day  on  Seminary  Ridge.  But  the  day 
waned  apace,  the  sun  went  down  behind  the  ridge  we  had  contested  so 
desperately  in  the  morning,  and  there  were  no  signs  of  attack.  From 
our  elevated  position  we  could  see  the  Rebel  troops  as  they  carne  in  from 
the  north  deliberately  deploying  in  our  front  or  filing  off  toward  the  valley 
of  Rock  Creek  on  our  extreme  right,  so  that  their  intention  to  go  on  with 
the  concert  was  unquestionable ;  but  after  the  sun  went  down  we  flattered 
ourselves  that  they  wanted  a  good  night's  rest,  the  same  as  we  did,  and,  if 
that  was  the  case,  we  did  not  care  how  soon  they  might  wake  us  up  in  the 
morning. 

As  previously  remarked,  there  was  always  a  great  deal  of  "public 
opinion  ' '  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  together  with  an  adequate  ability 
to  express  it.  So,  as  soon  as  the  danger  of  an  immediate  attack  appeared 
to  have  passed,  the  men  began  to  discuss  the  events  of  the  day  and  proba 
bilities  of  the  morrow.  These  discussions  and  criticisms  of  the  old  veterans 
were  always  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  experience  of  soldiering,  and 
every  recruit  longed  for  the  day  when  his  own  status  as  a  "  veteran ' '  would 
be  sufficiently  established  to  warrant  him  in  taking  part  in  these  debates. 
It  has  been  stated  in  descriptions  of  that  battle  since  the  war  that  "the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  was  whipped  at  the  end  of  the  first  day,"  but  that 
is  untrue.  It  is  true  that  the  First  and  the  Eleventh  Corps  had  been 
driven  out  of  their  positions  in  the  morning  and  forced  to  take  up  new 
ones,  but  the  rawest  recruit  in  the  ranks  could  see  that  the  new  position 
was  much  stronger  than  the  old  one,  and  we  all  knew  that  reinforcements 
had  come  up  amounting  to  nearly  twice  the  force  that  had  sustained  the 
unsuccessful  contest  of  the  morning.  The  Eleventh  Corps  had  behaved 
well  enough  to  redeem  themselves  from  their  disgrace  at  Chancellorsville, 
while  the  old  First  had  covered  itself  with  glory,  and  every  man  in  its  ranks 
knew  it.  They  were  not  whipped  or  defeated;  they  did  not  feel  that 
they  had  been  beaten,  because  they  knew  that  they  had  held  their  ground 
against  superior  numbers;  that  they  had  punished  the  enemy  terribly, 
and  that  they  had  finally  made  an  orderly  and  respectable  retreat  to  a 
much  stronger  and  better  position.  The  reflection  that  half  their  number 
had  been  left  dead  or  crippled  in  the  meadows  and  pastures  over  beyond 
the  other  ridge  had  lost  the  keen  edge  of  its  sadness  to  such  veterans  as 
they  were,  whom  long  familiarity  with  battle  and  slaughter  had  taught 


80  THE  CAXNONEEB. 

that  the  proper  place  for  sentimentality  in  war  is  at  a  long  distance  in  the- 
rear.  There  was  not  much  disposition  among  the  men  to  criticize  the 
manner  in  which  they  had  been  handled  during  the  day.  Some  of  them 
thought  that  the  Twelfth  Corps  ought  to  have  been  put  into  the  fight  on 
Seminary  Ridge  as  soon  as  they  arrived  on  the  field,  instead  of  stopping,  as 
they  did,  on  Cemetery  Hill  and  quietly  watching  the  Rebels  murder  us 
almost  within  musket  shot.  And  generally  their  idea  was  that  a  more 
energetic  Commander-in-Chief,  having  three  army  corps  within  six  miles 
of  a  battle  that  began  almost  at  sunrise,  would  have  managed  to  get  some 
of  them  under  fire  before  dark,  particularly  on  one  of  the  longest  days  of 
the  year !  It  was  not  easy  to  make  the  old  warriors  of  the  First  Corps  un 
derstand  the  sort  of  tactics  that  made  them  reach  the  field  from  the  Marsh 
Creek  Bridge  in  time  to  fight  eight  hours  and  lose  more  than  half  their 
number,  while  the  Twelfth  should  come  from  Two  Taverns — not  much 
farther  away — only  in  time  to  witness  their  final  struggle  for  existence  at 
a  safe  distance.  .  And  that  still  remains  to  be  explained.  Anyhow,  the 
old  First  Corps  was  not  whipped,  and,  barring  the  frightful  gaps  in  its 
ranks,  its  remains  were  actually  in  better  heart  at  the  end  of  the  first  day 
than  at  the  beginning.  At  all  events,  we  knew  that  AVC  had  done  as  des 
perate  work  as  ever  befel  an  army  corps,  and  were  almost  as  proud  of  the 
record  as  we  would  have  been  of  a  victory. 

Such  was  the  "state  of  public  opinion"  in  the  ranks  of  the  old  First 
Corps  when  at  roll  call  it  was  announced  that  Gen.  John  Newton,  of  the 
Sixth  Corps,  had  been  placed  in  command,  vice  Reynolds,  killed.  This 
met  the  instant  disapprobation  of  the  men.  Newton  was  a  man  they  did 
not  know.  The  corps  had  already  been  commanded  for  several  days  by 
Gen.  Doubleday,  of  the  Third  Division,  in  consequence  of  Gen.  Reynolds 
being  placed  in  command  of  the  whole  left  wing  of  the  army  after  crossing 
the  Potomac,  and  he  had  actually  taken  command  by  seniority  when  Rey 
nolds  fell.  Gen.  Doubleday  had  the  reputation  among  the  men  of  his 
division  of  being  an  austere  man,  not  calculated  to  excite  much  enthusiasm, 
but  in  handling  the  corps  that  day  he  displayed  skill  and  courage  which 
the  dullest  private  could  not  help  commending ;  and  he  had,  moreover, 
exposed  himself  all  day  in  plain  sight  of  the  troops  with  a  reckless  gallantry 
which  never  fails  to  win  the  affection  of  soldiers,  no  matter  what  may  be 
the  other  qualities  of  an  officer.  Hence  the  men  considered  Doubleday 
entitled  to  the  command  of  the  corps,  and  they  were  disgusted  when  they 
learned  that  a  stranger  had  been  put  over  them. 

Gen.  Doubleday  wTas  not  a  man  of  "personal  magnetism,"  nor  what  is 
called  "a  dashing  officer."  He  was  an  earnest  and  conscientious  man  and 
a  safe  and  steady  soldier  —  precise,  methodical,  and  to  be  depended  on 
in  any  emergency.  He  was  not  ' '  the  idol  of  his  troops ; ' '  and  in  fact 
that  phrase,  so  hackneyed  by  historians,  really  never  means  much  of 
substantial  credit  in  the  estimation  of  a  soldier.  You  will  generally  notice 
that  the  "idol  of  his  troops"  is  some  officer  who  cultivates  the  friendship 
of  the  newspaper  correspondents,  has  his  "headquarters  in  the  saddle" 


THE  SECOXD  DAY.  81 

or  issues  general  orders  largely  composed  of  wind.  The  average  man 
in  the  ranks,  particularly  if  he  is  a  veteran,  is  pretty  cynical,  and  cannot 
be  easily  fooled  by  pretension  or  gasconade.  Doubleday,  Griffin,  Reynolds, 
Warren,  Ay  res,  Getty,  Eicketts,  Joe  Bartlett,  Robinson  and  Wadsworth 
were  all  of  the  class  of  officers  who  depended  for  their  rank  in  history  on 
faithful  discharge  of  duty  and  the  argument  of  results.  Hence,  while  the 
men  of  the  First  Corps  had  no  particular  affection  or  enthusiasm  for 
Doubleday,  they  all  respected  him,  and  believed  that  he  had  fairly  won 
the  command  of  it  in  succession  to  Reynolds. 

"We  turned  out  about  4  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  July. 
The  roll  was  called  in  low  tones.  In  the  dim  light  of  the  daybreak 
we  could  see  our  infantry  in  front  of  us  astir,  and  looking  a  little  farther 
out  into  the  gloom  below  us  we  could  see  the  enemy's  gray  pickets. 
The  stillness  of  everything  was  oppressive.  We  felt  that  a  few  flashes 
of  musketry  would  be  a  relief.  But  the  daylight  came  on,  the  sun  rose 
and  mounted  up  higher  and  higher,  and  yet  the  enemy,  though  in  plain 
sight,  gave  no  sign  of  hostility.  Our  men  looked  at  each  other  and  asked, 
"What  does  it  mean?"  Off  to  the  north  and  east  —  that  is  to  say, 
in  front  and  to  the  right  —  we  could  see  the  infantry  of  the  enemy  moving, 
but  there  was  no  attack. 

From  the  position  of  the  Battery  the  trend  of  Cemetery  Ridge  shut 
off  the  view  to  the  southward,  so  that  we  could  not  see  the  movements 
of  our  own  troops  in  that  direction ;  but  we  could  see  the  massing  of 
the  enemy  all  along  the  edge  of  the  woods  that  fringed  Seminary  Ridge, 
hour  after  hour,  and  we  could  not  understand  why  they  did  not  attack. 
We  began  to  think  that  they  were  manuvering  to  provoke  us  into  an 
attack  upon  them.  At  all  events  the  morning  passed  away,  noon  came 
and  the  sun  began  to  sink  in  the  west  before  anything  was  done  on 
either  side,  except  fitful  skirmishing  way  down  near  the  Round  Tops. 
The  suspense  was  worse  than  attack  would  have  been.  There  we  were, 
standing  hour  after  hour,  in  plain  sight  of  the  foe,  watching  his  manuvers 
and  waiting  for  some  demonstration  which  would  indicate  his  designs. 

So  the  forenoon  passed  away.  It  was  4  o'clock  before  any  sign  of  re 
newed  battle  occurred,  except,  of  course,  scattering  picket  shots.  Then, 
away  down  on  our  left,  and  mainly  hid  from  our  view  by  the  curve  of  the 
hill,  began  a  crackling  of  skirmish  fire.  In  a  few  minutes  this  grew  into 
a  solid  crash  and  the  cannon  began  to  roar.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
attack  on  the  Third  Corps  at  the  Peach  Orchard ;  but  beyond  increased 
activity  in  their  marching  and  counter-marching,  the  Rebels  in  our  own 
front  made  no  demonstration.  About  this  time,  in  obedience  to  an  order, 
our  Battery  formed  across  the  road  leading  up  from  the  town,  our  guns 
fronting  northwest.  This  movement  brought  us  out  where  we  got  a  view 
of  the  Peach  Orchard,  and  a  grand  sight  it  was.  Looking  down  the  Em- 
mittsburg  Road  the  fields  west  of  the  Round  Tops  were  alive  with  moving 
masses  of  infantry  enveloped  in  flame  and  smoke ;  a  dozen  batteries  in 
different  positions  were  blazing  and  roaring  ;  shells  were  bursting  in  every 

6 


82  THE  CAXXOXEEB. 

direction  ;  buildings  and  haystacks  were  on  fire  here  and  there  ;  pandemo 
nium  broken  loose  generally,  and  the  fight  down  about  the  Peach  Orchard 
increased  in  uproar  until  its  grandeur  passed  description.  All  the  men 
strained  their  eyes  in  that  direction  in  spite  of  the  frequent  commands, 
"Attention!  Eyes  front!  Stand  to  posts!"  etc.  I  don't  believe  there 
was  ever  discipline  in  any  army  that  could  make  men  keep  "eyes  front" 
when  one  of  the  most  desperate  struggles  of  history  was  going  on  over 
their  left  shoulders  a  mile  and  a  half  away  and  in  plain  sight.  Moreover, 
it  is  terribly  demoralizing  to  stand  idle  when  such  fighting  is  being  done 
on  another  part  of  the  line,  and  you  are  waiting  momentarily  for  a  strong 
force  in  your  own  front  to  begin.  The  suspense  is  awful.  We  knew  that 
if  -the  enemy  drove  in  our  troops  down  there  by  the  Peach  Orchard  we 
would  be  taken  by  reverse  in  left  and  rear.  So  we  actually  longed  for 
Ewell's  men  in  our  own  front  to  come  on. 

Thus  the  whole  day  of  the  2d  of  July  dragged  its  slow  length  along. 
The  sun  was  almost  down  ;  the  sights  and  sounds  of  battle  on  the  left  were 
decreasing.  We  could  see  that  our  troops  there  had  been  driven  back,  but 
we  could  also  see  that  the  Rebels,  too,  were  weakening,  and  that  their  broken 
lines  in  the  fields  west  of  the  Taneytown  Road  were  being  drawn  in. 

They  had  driven  our  men  back,  it  was  true,  but  had  themselves  re- 
'coiled  from  the  deadly  work  that  had  been  required  to  accomplish  it.  All 
this  was  quite  as  evident  to  the  men  in  the  ranks  as  it  was  to  the  officers 
in  command,  and  we  began  to  think  there  would  be  no  fighting  at  all  on 
our  part  of  the  line  that  day,  when  suddenly  the  musketry  began  to  crash 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  and  almost  simultaneously  a  long  Rebel  line  swept 
across  the  fields  east  of  the  town,  bearing  straight  for  the  position  of  the 
Eleventh  Corps  in  our  own  front.  The  sun  was  just  going  down.  On 
they  came.  Two  batteries  (Weidrich's  and  Ricketts's,  of  the  Eleventh 
Corps, )  were  formed  on  the  lower  ground  in  advance  of  us,  and  they  opened 
with  canister.  The  infantry  of  the  Eleventh  also  opened.  It  was  one  solid 
'Crash,  like  a  million  trees  falling  at  once.  Still  on  the  Rebels  came,  begin 
ning  to  fire  themselves  as  they  drove  in  the  front  line  of  infantry  and  ran 
over  the  advanced  batteries.  As  there  was  no  enemy  coming  up  our  road 
out  of  the  town,  we  were  ordered  to  change  front  half  right  and  face  them. 
But  we  could  not  open  fire  immediately  without  blazing  into  an  indistin 
guishable  mass  of  friend  and  foe.  However,  in  a  few  moments  the  rem 
nants  of  Yon  Gilsa's  Brigade  had  sagged  off  to  the  right  enough  to  open 
a  clear  road  for  our  canister. 

"Fire  by  piece !  Fire  at  will!"  came  in  ringing  tones,  and  we  an 
swered  with  the  hoarse  roar  of  a  solid  "broadside." 

Reynolds,  who  was  about  200  yards  to  our  right,  and  Stevens,  about 
the  same  distance  to  the  right  of  Reynolds,  opened  also,  and  for  about  10 
minutes  there  was  a  fine  display  of  fireworks. 

Compared  with  the  frightful  fighting  and  the  awful  losses  we  had  suf 
fered  the  day  before,  this  little  flurry  at  sundown  on  the  second  dav  seemed 
a  rather  trivial  affair.  Still  there  was  a  time  for  a  few  minutes  when  the 


EARLY'S  CHARGE.  83 

prospect  was  that  we  would  have  all  we  wanted.  This  was  when  Von 
Gilsa's  Brigade  broke,  leaving  Ames's  Brigade  exposed  to  a  flank  attack. 
But  Ames  behaved  very  gallantly,  and  rallied  about  half  of  his  men  on  our 
left  and  rear,  where  they  remained  available  to  support  us.  The  enemy 
came  on  rapidly  in  two  columns  of  regimental  front,  apparently  two  bri 
gades.  The  one  forming  his  right  came  straight  at  us.  Part  of  it  was  in 
an  open  pasture,  and  these  were  soon  made  to  flinch  by  our  canister  and  that 
of  Stevens  and  Eeynolds,  together  with  the  straggling  musketry  of  Ames's 
men  and  some  other  infantry  that  had  just  come  into  action;  but  their  right 
was  covered  by  a  small  ravine  running  obliquely  to  our  front  and  a  stone 
wall  extending  over  to  the  road  at  the  west  base  of  the  hill.  So,  while  their 
left  was  wavering,  and,  in  fact,  giving  way,  the  right  regiments — which 
we  afterward  learned  were  the  far- famed  "Louisiana  Tigers" — suddenly 
swarmed  up  the  bank  of  the  little  ravine  and  over  the  stone  wall,  and 
charged  with  loud  yells.  Their  nearest  troops  were  then  within  10  or  15 
rods  of  our  guns.  If  they  had  fired  a  volley  at  us  then  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  remnant  of  our  poor  old  Battery  would  have  been  wiped  out ;  but 
for  some  reason  they  came  on  with  the  cold  steel  alone.  It  may  be  imagined 
that  we  gave  them  the  best  we  had,  but  artillery  fire  does  not  have  its  best 
effect  upon  troops  coming  straight  on,  and  it  is  plain  that  we  could  not 
have  stopped  them  with  our  four  guns  unaided.  But  as  they  pressed  up 
the  hill  and  separated  from  their  comrades  they  brought  their  left  flank 
almost  on  a  line  with  Stevens' s  guns  to  our  right,  and  this  magnificent 
battery,  making  a  quick  change  of  front  half  left  en  echelon,  poured  into 
them  a  fearful  blast  of  canister  almost  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  of 
their  advance,  while  we  kept  a  solid  sheet  of  flame  in  front  of  our  own 
muzzles,  with  our  direct  play  on  their  line.  As  a  matter  of  course,  no 
troops  that  ever  lived  could  stand  that,  particularly  when  isolated  and  un 
supported  on  either  flank  as  these  were,  and  so  they  broke  when  so  near  us 
that  if  it  had  not  been  almost  dark  we  could  actually  have  seen  the  whites 
of  their  eyes.  However,  they  only  fell  back  to  the  ravine  and  stone  wall, 
under  cover  of  which  they  rallied  to  some  extent  and  began  a  spattering 
fire  of  musketry.  This  must  have  been  very  destructive  to  us  had  it  con 
tinued  any  time,  but  just  at  that  moment  we  heard  cheers  immediately  on 
our  right,  and  in  a  few  seconds  a  splendid  brigade  of  our  infantry  swept 
past  us  and  charged  straight  at  the  ravine  and  wall,  from  which  they 
routed  the  Rebels  pell-mell,  driving  them  clear  to  the  bottom  of  the  hill 
and  retaking  Weidrich's  and  Ricketts's  guns.  This  ended  the  battle  of 
the  second  day  on  our  part  of  the  line,  and  it  had  been  ended  on  the  left  of 
the  army  half  an  hour  before.  The  fighting  over  back  of  Gulp's  Hill, 
where  the  Twelfth  Corps  was,  also  ended  about  the  same  time  it  did 
with  us.  In  fact  it  was  now  quite  dark;  but  the  enemy  shoved  his  pickets 
up  very  close  to  ours  in  the  edge  of  the  town  and  to  the  eastward  of  it,  and 
there  was  more  or  less  picket  firing  until  nearly  midnight.  We  were  anx 
ious  to  find  out  what  infantry  it  was  that  had  charged  in  so  opportunely  at 
the  last  moment.  They  had  taken  up  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  the  hill, 


84  THE  CANNONEER. 

and  so  when  we  went  to  the  spring  for  water  we  got  among  them.  The 
spring  was  surrounded  with  them  filling  their  canteens,  and  we  soon  learned 
that  they  were  Ohio,  Indiana  and  West  Virginia  troops,  forming  Gen. 
Sprigg  Carroll's  Brigade,  of  the  Second  Corps.  They  told  us  that  the  Third 
Corps  had  been  completely  cut  to  pieces  about  the  Peach  Orchard  during 
the  afternoon  ;  that  Gen.  Sickles  had  been  killed  (of  course  an  error),  and 
that  the  day  had  been  saved  finally  by  the  Second  and  Fifth  Corps,  but 
that  the  Rebels  had  gained  a  good  deal  of  ground  on  the  left,  and  were 
expected  to  renew  the  attack  early  in  the  morning.  They  also  informed 
us  that  the  Sixth  Corps  had  been  arriving  all  the  afternoon,  and  was  now 
in  position.  As  this  was  the  first  news  we  had  been  able  to  get  from  the  left 
of  our  line,  it  was  very  interesting.  When  we  returned  to  the  Battery  and 
had  finished  our  frugal  supper  of  pork,  hardtack  and  cold  water,  we  fell  in 
for  roll  call.  We  found  that  only  two  men  had  been  hit  in  this  encounter  — 
both  slightly  —  by  the  fire  of  the  enemy  after  he  began  to  fall  back. 

In  order  that  the  situation  after  the  repulse  of  Early 's  charge  at 
sundown  on  the  2d  of  July  may  be  clearly  understood,  it  is  necessary 
to  explain  briefly  the  lay  of  the  ground.  Our  Battery  was  posted  in 
front  of  the  Cemetery  Gate,  on  the  north  brow  of  the  Hill,  to  com- 
iinand  the  Baltimore  Pike  leading  out  of  Gettysburg  town.  At  that 
time  we  had  only  men  enough  to  man  four  guns.  Our  other  two 
guns  —  which  were  still  disabled  by  the  breaking  of  their  pointing- 
rings  from  the  first  day's  fight  —  were  parked  with  our  remaining  (four) 
caissons  in  the  Cemetery,  just  in  our  rear.  Prior  to  Early 's  attack  the 
ground  immediately  in  our  front  had  been  held  by  the  Second  Di 
vision  of  the  Eleventh  Corps,  which,  after  Gen.  Frank  Barlow  was 
wounded  and  captured  the  first  day,  was  commanded  by  Gen.  Adel- 
bert  Ames.  •  This  division  consisted  of  two  brigades.  The  First  was 
Von  Gilsa's.  The  Second  was  Ames's,  which,  after  Ames  succeeded 
Barlow  in  command  of  the  division,  was  commanded  by  Col.  Andrew 
Harris.  These  two  brigades,  together  with  Bruce  Eicketts's  Pennsyl 
vania  and  Weidrich's  New  York  batteries,  held  a  line  about  200  yards 
to  our  front,  reaching  from  the  Baltimore  Pike  on  the  left  round  to  a 
straight  post-and-rail  fence  on  our  right.  From  this  point  to  the  po 
sition  of  Stevens's  5th  Maine  Battery,  which  formed  the  extreme  left 
of  Wadsworth's  Division  on  the  west  slope  of  Gulp's  Hill,  was  a  gap 
of  some  length,  which  was  held  only  by  Reynolds's  Battery  (L,  1st  New 
York,)  with,  perhaps,  a  slight  infantry  support.  But  I  do  not  know 
about  that.  Serg't  George  Sill,  of  Reynolds's  Battery,  has  told  me 
that  he  does  not  remember  seeing  any  of  our  infantry  near  them  at  the 
time  the  attack  was  made.  Our  right  was  then  prolonged  by  Wads- 
worth's  Division  and  the  Twelfth  Corps,  clear  round  to  the  east  face 
of  Culp's  Hill.  About  600  yards  in  front  of  our  position  —  or,  in  other 
words,  right  in  the  south  edge  of  Gettysburg  town  —  a  small  brook 
heads  and  runs  nearly  due  east  till  it  empties  into  Rock  Creek  at  the 
base  of  Culp's  Hill.  About  half  way  between  the  main  street  leading 


THE  ELEVENTH  COKPS.  85 

up  out  of  the  town  and  Kock  Creek  a  rivulet  empties  into  this  little 
brook,  and  this  rivulet  heads  in  a  spring,  which  was  about  600  feet 
from  the  right  front  of  our  Battery  and,  prior  to  the  assault,  just  in 
rear  of  the  junction  of  the  two  brigades  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  holding 
the  line.  About  150  yards  in  front  of  our  position,  looking  directly 
toward  the  town,  the  Baltimore  Pike  and  the  Emmittsburg  Road  join. 
From  this  junction  the  Emmittsburg  Road  runs  southwest  and  the 
Baltimore  Pike  southeast.  The  original  formation  of  Early's  troops 
was  in  the  ravine  formed  by  the  brook  previously  spoken  of,  and  the 
trend  of  their  line  was  nearly  east  and  west.  When  they  started  on 
their  charge  they  came  at  us  in  a  line  nearly  perpendicular  to  the 
smaller  ravine  of  the  rivulet  referred  to.  When  they  struck  Von  Gilsa 
their  line  obliqued  in  a  general  direction  from  northeast  to  southwest, 
"doubling  up"  on  the  batteries  of  Weidrich  and  Ricketts,  and  in  that 
manner  continuing  their  advance  until  finally  checked  almost  at  the 
top  of  the  hill. 

I  have,  since  writing  the  original  sketch  as  published  serially  in  THE 
NATIONAL  TRIBUNE,  made  a  careful  survey  of  the  ground,  together  with 
an  exhaustive  study  of  the  official  reports,  the  result  of  which  is  that  I 
am  satisfied  that  Ames's  (or  Harris's)  Brigade  did  not  "break,"  as  I  then 
stated,  but  that  it  simply  changed  front  to  accommodate  itself  to  the  retro 
grade  movement  of  Von  Gilsa's  Brigade  on  its  right,  which  was  certainly 
broken,  and  that  the  17th  Connecticut,  of  Ames's  Brigade,  which  held  the 
left  of  that  organization  next  to  the  Baltimore  Pike,  did  not  retreat  at  all, 
and  was  not  affected  by  the  onslaught.  I  stated  in  the  original  sketch 
that  Ames's  men  broke  and  many  of  them  came  through  our  Battery  and 
rallied  in  the  Cemetery,  etc.  But  by  information  from  Capt.  Stewart  and 
others  I  am  now  satisfied  that  the  men  who  rushed  through  or  past  our  Bat 
tery  were  only  the  ordinary  concourse  of  stragglers  on  such  an  occasion — no 
doubt  magnified  in  my  boyish  mind  by  the  excitement  of  the  situation — 
and  the  Captain  assures  me  that  the  troops  in  our  left  front  did  not  break 
at  all ;  in  fact,  he  says  that  the  weight  of  Early's  attack,  as  he  saw  it,  fell 
on  Von  Gilsa's  Brigade,  and  had  been  checked  by  the  fire  of  Stevens,  Rey 
nolds  and  ourselves  before  it  really  reached  far  enough  to  our  left  to  over 
whelm.  Ames's  Brigade,  which  was  next  to  the  Baltimore  Pike. 

However,  there  was  much  excitement  and  confusion  on  our  part  of 
the  line  during  Early's  charge.  As  soon  as  Carroll's  Brigade  had  counter 
charged  down  the  hill  and  retaken  the  ground  previously  occupied  by  Von 
Gilsa,  our  water  supply  was  restored  by  recapture  of  the  spring  in  our 
right  front,  and  I,  with  others,  was  sent  down  there  loaded  with  canteens 
to  procure  water  for  use  during  the  night.  As  before  related,  we  had  to 
wait  our  turn  at  the  spring,  which  was  surrounded  by  Carroll's  Hoosiers, 
Buckeyes  and  "Kanawhas,"  filling  their  own  canteens. 

On  my  way  up  the  hill  from  the  spring  back  to  the  Battery  I  kept  close 
to  the  fence  running  parallel  to  the  Baltimore  Pike,  and  about  200  yards 
distant  from  it,  in  order  to  avoid  the  dropping  picket  shots  which  were 


86 


THE  CANNONEER, 


GENERAL  DIAGRAM  or  GETTYSBURG. 


Ax  INTERESTING  DISCUSSION. 


plentiful  just  then,  when  suddenly  I  heard  an  animated  colloquy  just  to 
my  right.  There  was  at  this  point  a  large,  wide-spreading  hard-wood  tree 
standing  in  the  corner  formed  by  the  stone  wall  and  the  rail  fence,  about  a 
third  of  the  way  up  the  slope  between  the  spring  and  the  Cemetery  gate, 
and  there  was  a  group  of  officers  under  this  tree.  It  was  so  dark  that  I 
could  not  distinguish  their  faces,  but  one  of  them  was  Gen.  Carroll,  which 
I  know  from  having  heard  another  officer  call  him  by  name.  The  other  I 
could  not  identify,  but  supposed  he  was  a  staff  officer.  They  were  evi 
dently  very  much  in  earnest.  I  heard  one  say:  "Well,  I  can  hold  this 

line  to-night  as  long  as  necessary  ;  but  why  in  the  name  of don't  he 

get  his  men  into  shape  again  and  get  them  down  here?  He's  got  all  night 
to  do  it  in. "  The  other  replied  :  "Gen.  Carroll,  our  troops  are  very  much 
demoralized.  The  General  does  not  feel  that  he  can  depend  on  them. ' ' 

Then  the  one  who  had  been  addressed  as  Carroll  replied :  " 

such  a  speech  as  that.  Don't  talk  to  me  that  way.  Tell  him  to  bring  his 
men  back  here  and  align  them  on  this  wall.  They  will  then  be  in  support 

of  my  brigade  line.  If  he  can't  inspire  them,  by ,  I  can.  Get  them 

back  here.  Don't  let  them  cower  like  a  flock  of  sheep  up  there  behind  the 
upper  batteries."  (Referring  to  ours  and  Stevens's  and  Reynolds's  on  the 
brow  of  the  hill. ) 

The  officer  addressed  replied  in  a  low  tone,  which  I  could  not  make 
out,  to  which  Carroll  replied,  as  I  thought,  in  great  wrath  : 


DIAGRAM  or  THE  BATTLEFIELD. 

The   main  diagram   shows   the  po-  |  left  of  the  Battery.  (This  position  was 
sitions  of   the  third  day.    The   space  |  shifted  slightly  once  or  twice,  but  not 

for  any  length  of  time.) 
Explanation  of  small  diagram  : 

1.  Stewart's  half -battery  north  of  the 
Railroad  Cut. 

2.  Davison's    half -battery  south   of 
the  Railroad  Cut  (first  position). 

3.  Davison's  half -battery  south  of  the 
Railroad  Cut  (second  position  slewed 
to  the  left  to  rake  Scales's  front  line). 

4.  Wilbour's    section  of    Reynolds's 
Battery  (last  position). 

5.  Greenleaf  Stevens's  battery  near 
the  Seminary  (last  position). 

6.  6th  Wisconsin  and  llth  Pennsyl 
vania  supporting  us. 

777.  All  the  other  infantry  g'oing  off 

b  b.  Pickett  striking  front  of  Gib-    toward  the  town  and  Cemetery, 
bon's  Division.  a  a  a.  Rebel  front  line  charging  and 

c  c.  Hill's  Corps  supporting  Pickett's    flanking  us. 
left  flank. 

d  d.  Longstreet's   Corps   supporting 
Pickett's  right  flank. 

e  e.  Swell's  Corps  in  the  town  and 
east  of  it. 

B.  Position  of  Battery  B  second  and 


The 

inclosed  in  the  heavy  black  lines  shows 
the  positions  in  the  final  struggle  of 
the  first  day. 

1.  Twelfth  Corps  on  Culp's  Hill. 

2.  Wadsworth's  Division,  First  Corps. 

3.  Eleventh  Corps. 

4.  Robinson's  Division,  First  Corps. 
5  6.  Second  Corps. 

7.  Doubleday's  Division,  First  Corps. 

8  8.  Third  and  Fifth  Corps. 

9  9.  Sixth  Corps  in  reserve. 

10.  Vermont  brigade     (Stannard's) 
striking  flank  of  Pickett's  Division. 

11.  Reserve  ammunition  park.. 

a  a.  Pickett  ready  to  start  out  of  the 
grove  on  Seminary  Ridge. 


third  days.    Cemetery  gate  just  to  the 


b  b  b.  Their  main  line  coming  on  in 
great  shape. 

c  c.  Scales's  Brigade  broken  by  our 
canister  and  Wilbour's  and  Stevens's 
from  the  brow  of  the  hill. 

The  little  cross  marks  the  spot  where 
Reynolds  fell. 


THE  CANNONEER. 

"Hancock  sent  me  over  here  to  restore  this  line.  I  have  done  it.  But 
I  can't  be  responsible  for  the  whole  right  center  of  the  army,  with  my  little 
brigade  unsupported. a  commander  who  says  he  has  no  confi 
dence  in  his  troops.  He  had  better  go  and  shoot  himself.  Probably  your 
troops  reciprocate  your  General's  lack  of  confidence.  Tell  him  to  either 
get  them  back  here  on  this  line  or  relinquish  the  command. ' ' 

Then  Carroll  went  on  to  say  that  he  himself  occupied  a  peculiar  posi 
tion  ;  that  Hancock  had  ordered  him  over  there  to  restore  the  line,  but  had 
not  told  him  to  report  to  anybody,  nor  had  he  given  him  any  authority  in 
that  position.  So  he  said  his  brigade  was  isolated  there.  He  had  no 
authority  to  assume  command  on  that  part  of  the  line.  "If  I  had  such 
authority,"  he  said,  with  great  vehemence,  "I'd  resurrect  things  here 
quicker  than could  scorch  a  feather." 

There  was  more  of  the  same  sort,  but  as  I  knew  our  gun  detachment 
was  waiting  for  me  to  come  back  with  their  canteens  I  could  not  stop  for 
any  more  of  this  interesting  "eavesdropping." 

I  respectfully  add  to  this  ' '  impromptu  interview ' '  that  several  com 
rades  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  have  disputed  its  accuracy,  as  published  in  the 
original  sketch  in  THE  NATIONAL  TRIBUNE.  I  am  personally  authorized 
by  Gen.  Carroll  to  say  that  the  above  conversation  —  barring  the  alleged 
picturesque  profanity — occurred  substantially  as  stated  between  himself 
and  Capt.  J.  M.  Brown,  Assistant  Adjutant-General  of  Ames's  Division, 
Eleventh  Corps,  at  the  place  described  and  under  the  circumstances  de 
tailed.  For  further  information  any  inquiring  comrade  may  address  Maj.- 
Gen.  Sprigg  Carroll,  1801  F  street,  Washington,  D.  C.,  or  Maj.  John  M. 
Brown,  Portland,  Me.  I  give  this  incident  so  much  prominence  because 
it  was  one  of  the  most  dramatic  occurrences  of  Gettysburg,  besides  having 
a  most  important  bearing  on  the  fortunes  of  the  battle. 

After  this  a  detail  was  told  off  to  go  to  the  park  of  the  reserve  ammu 
nition  train  to  help  bring  up  fresh  supplies.  We  went  down  the  Taney- 
town  Road  till  we  came  to  the  bivouac  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  and  thence  to 
the  Baltimore  Pike  by  a  cross  road,  and  found  the  reserve  ammunition 
parked  in  a  field  some  distance  to  the  rear  of  Gen.  Meade's  headquarters 
that  night.  It  was  nearly  6  o'clock  at  night  w^hen  we  set  out,  and  it  was 
past  2  in  the  morning  when  we  got  back  to  our  position.  The  route  ran 
along  close  in  the  rear  of  the  positions  of  the  Second,  Third  and  Fifth 
Corps,  which  had  sustained  the  brunt  of  the  main  fight  of  the  second  day , 
and  the  whole  way  it  was  literally  a  solid  field  hospital.  Our  own  wounded 
in  the  first  day's  battle  had  mostly  been  left  in  Gettysburg  village,  so  that 
during  the  rest  of  the  conflict  they  were  practically  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  and  we  could  not  see  them  or  do  anything  for  them.  But  this 
wreckage  of  the  second  day  was  safe  in  our  own  rear,  and  everything  pos 
sible  was  being  done  for  them.  As  we  passed  slowly  along  the  road  we 
could  see  on  every  side  in  the  fields  in  and  around  such  farm  buildings  as 
had  escaped  the  flames,  and  fairly  lining  both  sides  of  the  road,  innumer 
able  groups  of  wounded  in  all  stages  of  misery ;  groaning,  crying,  swear- 


A  NIGHT  OF  HOBROB. 

ing,  begging  for  water  or  whisky,  or  for  food ;  entreating  the  Surgeons 
and  attendants  to  come  to  them  ;  some  in  delirium,  calling  for  their  friends 
at  home  ;  some  even  lagging  some  one  to  shoot  them,  to  escape  from,  their 
present  pangs  ;  and  the  whole  scene  fitfully  lighted  up  by  the  flaring  lan 
terns  of  the  hospital  forces,  or  the  flickering  fires  of  rails  and  boards  here 
and  there  ;  the  fields  toward  the  front  full  of  flitting  lights  from  the  lan 
terns  of  the  stretcher  parties  busy  bringing  fresh  additions  to  the  wretched 
mass.  Meantime  the  Surgeons  were  at  work  as  best  they  could,  in  the 
darkness  and  confusion,  dressing  wounds,  administering  stimulants,  and 
all  that  sort  of  thing.  In  the  course  of  this  mile  or  so  of  road  there  must 
have  been,  according  to  statistics  published  since,  not  less  than  8,000 
wounded  men,  of  whom,  no  doubt,  1,000  died  during  the  night.  No  one 
ever  will  see  again  so  much  or  such  awful  suffering,  wo  and  despair  in  an 
equal  space  of  ground.  It  was  indescribably  awful ! 

At  the  reserve  ammunition  park  every  one  wanted  canister,  and  re 
ported  themselves  entirely  out  of  it.  To  an  artilleryman  this  fact  is  the 
most  eloquent  possible  evidence  of  the  close  and  deadly  fighting  that  the 
artillery  did  at  Gettysburg.  We  made  the  best  of  our  way  back,  and  ar 
rived  at  the  position  about  2  o'clock,  when  we  at  once  lay  down  for  the 
hour  or  two  of  rest  that  remained. 

Regarding  the  charge  of  Carroll's  Brigade  at  such  an  opportune 
moment  on  the  north  brow  of  Cemetery  Hill,  Maj.  William  Houghton,  of 
the  14th  Indiana,  writes  to  the  author  as  follows  : 

The  action  of  Sprigg  Carroll's  Brigade  that  evening,  though  it  lasted  but 
a  few  moments,  was  the  most  important  event  of  the  day.  The  Rebels  had 
driven  out  the  brigade  that  held  the  gate  of  the  Cemetery,  had  captured  the 
guns,  and  were  sweeping  forward  on  the  right  and  rear  of  our  lines.  If  they 
had  not  been  driven  back  our  whole  line  would  have  been  taken  in  reverse, 
and  a  disastrous  defeat  would  have  been  almost  inevitable.  During  the  day 
we  had  been  in  reserve  immediately  behind  the  right  of  the  Twelfth  Corps 
line.  We  had  witnessed  the  fight  on  the  left,  but  were  not  ourselves  engaged. 
Is  ight  was  coming,  and  it  seemed  we  were  not  going  to  get  our  usual  share  of 
hard  knocks.  Suddenly  there  was  an  order  to  move  to  the  right;  we  were 
thrown  into  line  of  battle  and  moved  toward  the  crest  of  Cemetery  Hill.  Being 
in  the  center  of  the  left  wing  of  the  1-tth  Indiana,  I  recollect  I  passed  to  the 
left  of  the  Cemetery  gate  — the  most  of  the  brigade  passed  to  the  right.  We 
met  Ricketts,  who  was  frantically  imploring  us  to  save  his  guns.  The  mus 
ketry  was  very  heavy,  and  the  blaze  seemed  to  be  almost  in  our  faces.  It  was 
middling  hot  for  a  minute,  but  it  couldn't  last.  We  came  in  good  style ;  a 
cheer,  a  volley,  a  charge,  and  the  hill  was  ours,  the  guns  retaken  and  the 
Rebels  whooped  across  the  stone  wall  below. 

I  recollect  the  21st  North  Carolina  was  in  our  front;  our  regiment  got 
their  flag  and  one  of  their  field  officers.  I  think  the  Lieutenant-Colonel  was 
taken  prisoner  (wounded),  while  their  Major  was  killed.  I  don't  know  the 
brigade  loss  in  this  charge.  The  14th  Indiana  lost  32  in  killed  and  wounded, 
which  was  getting  off  easy  compared  to  our  losses  at  Antietam  and  Fred- 
ericksburg.  But  we  saved  the  center  and  held  the  position  taken  that  night  to 
the  end-  of  the  fight,  and,  although  we  were  not  again  attacked,  I  assert  that 
the  batteries  on  the  hill  behind  us  could  have  slept  in  security  while  Carroll's 
Brigade  were  pointing  their  guns  over  the  stone  wall  at  the  base ;  they  would 
never  have  driven  us  from  that  stone  wall.  Carroll's  Brigade  had  one  West 


90  THE  CANNONEER, 

Virginia  regiment  (the  7th),  which,  with  the  14th  Indiana,  4th  and  8th  Ohio, 
constituted  the  brigade. 

There  was  a  story  to  the  effect  that  when  Carroll  had  restored  the  line 
the  Captain  of  one  of  the  recaptured  batteries  asked  him  if  he  desired  any 
change  in  the  position  of  the  guns.  Carroll  said,  "No  ;'  the  position  is  well 
enough,  but  (pointing  to  one  of  his  regiments  in  line  behind  the  fence) 
you  had  better  get  your  guns  away  when  those  Hoosiers  quit ! ' ' 

Comrade  J.  R.  McClure,  14th  Indiana,  says : 

I  am  glad  Gen.  Carroll  gets  credit  for  what  he  did.  I  think  Carroll  was 
the  most  abused  man  in  the  army.  But  when  there  was  any  quick  and  bloody 
work  Carroll  and  the  14th  Indiana,  8th  and  4th  Ohio  and  7th  West  Virginia 
were  called  on  to  do  it.  He  was  called  on  at  Chancellorsville  after  the  Eleventh 
Corps  broke  ;  also,  at  Gettysburg.  At  the  Wilderness,  when  the  Rebels  broke 
our  center,  and  at  the  Bloody  Angle  Carroll  took  the  lead.  The  boys  used  to 
call  him  "Old  Bricktop,"  on  account  of  his  red  head,  and,  finally,  from  this 
circumstance,  the  whole  command  was  nicknamed  "  the  Bricktop  Brigade." 

The  battle  of  the  third  day  began  over  on  the  farther  side  of  Gulp's 
Hill  as  soon  as  it  was  light  enough  to  see,  or  a  little  before  sunrise.  The 
first  we  heard  of  it  was  the  batteries  of  the  Twelfth  Corps  opening  in  salvos. 
This  was  the  extreme  right  of  the  army,  and  as  the  line  bent  round  like  a 
hook  at  the  north  end  this  fighting  was  almost  in  our  rear.  We  were 
facing  to  the  northwest.  There  was  no  movement  of  the  enemy  in  our 
immediate  front  at  that  moment,  though  soon  after  about  16  guns  of  theirs 
opened  on  our  position  from  a  rise  of  ground  east  of  the  village,  called 
Benner's  Hill.  Stevens's,  Reynolds's  and  ours  replied  to  them  with  shell 
and  spherical  case.  The  range  was  pretty  long,  and  no  one  was  hurt  with 
us,  but  one  of  Stevens's  or  Reynolds's  caissons  was  blown  up.  At  all 
events,  this  "long-taw"  business  did  not  last  a  great  while ;  perhaps  on 
our  part  10  rounds  were  fired.  But  there  was  no  demonstration  of  infantry 
in  our  front,  except  that  our  own  lines  were  drawn  in  from  the  position 
occupied  along  the  base  of  the  hill  during  the  night,  and  took  up  a  new 
line  on  our  position,  or  a  little  in  front  of  it,  Sprigg  Carroll's  Brigade 
occupying  the  line  of  the  stone  wall  in  our  immediate  front  and  right,  and 
Ames's  Brigade  lying  down  on  our  left  and  rear,  holding  the  ground  in 
front  of  the  Cemetery. 

But  the  battle  over  beyond  Gulp's  Hill  grew  in  volume,  and  as  it  had 
extended  so  far  around  to  the  right  and  directly  in  our  rear,  whereas  the 
big  battle  of  the  second  day  had  been  away  off  to  the  left,  we  got  the  un 
pleasant  impression  that  we  were  surrounded.  Of  course  it  will  be  under 
stood  that  this  is  written  in  the  light  of  the  knowledge  we  had,  or  the 
impressions  we  formed  then,  and  not  in  view  of  the  subsequent  revelations 
of  history.  The  object  is  to  present  a  picture  of  the  battle  taken  on  the 
spot,  as  it  appeared  to  the  men  who  were  fighting  it  then  and  there  ;  not 
a  picture  retouched  by  study  of  later  history.  So  we  got  the  disagree 
able  idea  that  we  were  surrounded,  and  that  the  Eebel  army  was  much 
bigger  than  we  had  supposed.  As  the  fighting  was  011  the  opposite  side  of 
Culp's  Hill  from  us  we  could  see  nothing  of  the  infantry  manuvers.  All 
we  could  see  was  that  the  batteries  of  the  Twelfth  Corps,  positioned  on  top 


BATTLE  OF  CULP'S  HILL.  91 

of  the  crest,  were  blazing  at  something  down  below  them  on  the  farther 
side,  and  we  could  not  see  whether  they  were  accomplishing  anything  or 
not.  But  we  noticed  that  the  enemy  there  was  not  using  artillery  in  reply 
to  them.  Some  of  our  fellows  said  this  was  because  the  Twelfth  Corps 
batteries  kept  those  of  the  enemy  silenced.  Others  surmised  that  the  enemy 
was  taking  his  batteries  around  some  circuitous  route  with  a  view  to  get 
ting  on  the  flank  of  the  Twelfth  and  enfilading  its  line,  as  Longstreet  did 
Fitz-John  Porter's  line  at  the  second  Bull  Run.  We  also  noticed  that  no 
attempt  was  made  to  reinforce  our  troops  who  were  fighting  at  Culp's  Hill, 
which  further  convinced  us  that  we  were  surrounded,  and  that  Meade  did 
not  dare  to  weaken  his  lines  at  any  other  point  by  taking  away  troops  to 
reinforce  Slocum  and  Wadsworth  at  the  extreme  right.  And  this  ugly 
impression  was  not  abated  when  we  saw,  looking  to  the  front  and  left, 
glimpses  of  columns  of  infantry  moving  about  on  Seminary  Ridge,  and  a 
palpable  concentration  of  their  artillery  near  the  Seminary  and  to  the 
southward  of  it.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  at  no  time  since  the  beginning  of 
the  struggle  had  things  looked  more  "skittish"  to  the  average  man  in  the 
ranks  than  they  did  in  the  forenoon  of  the  third  day. 

Meantime  we  stood  idle  in  our  old  position.  The  fighting  beyond 
Culp's  Hill  continued  stubborn,  though  fitful,  with  frequent  lulls  in  both 
musketry  and  artillery  fire.  Finally,  when  it  was  almost  noon,  the  fire 
slackened,  and  then  ceased  altogether  ;  and  shortly  afterward  we  saw  the 
Rebel  infantry  moving  around  through  the  fields  to  the  north  of  Culp's 
Hill,  evidently  retreating  from  that  position  and  making  for  the  main  line 
of  the  enemy  on  Seminary  Ridge. 

During  all  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  and  forenoon  of  the  third 
there  had  been  a  good  deal  of  sharpshooting  by  the  Rebels  from  the  houses 
and  fences  in  the  south  edge  of  the  town.  We  had  one  man — Blakeley — 
slightly  hit  by  this  fire,  and  in  Stevens' s  Battery  Capt.  Stevens  himself 
was  severely,  and  one  of  his  men  mortally,  wounded.  In  our  immediate 
front  the  most  annoying  of  this  sharpshooting  came  from,  a  small  brick 
house  which  stood  a  short  distance  south  of  the  place  on  the  Baltimore 
Pike,  where  the  watering-trough  was,  and  about  600  yards  from  our 
muzzles.  The  gable  end  of  the  house  fronted  us.  It  had  two  windows 
in  each  story.  When  Blakeley  was  hit  or  "scratched"  by  a  bullet  from, 
this  house,  Mitchell  ordered  the  gun  in  the  road  to  be  loaded  with  a  case 
shot,  cut  for  600  yards.  This  was  one  of  the  new  guns  issued  in  front  of 
Fredericksburg  in  June  to  replace  one  of  the  old  pattern,  condemned  on 
account  of  excessive  "scoring"  of  the  bore.  Never  having  been  used 
except  in  the  first  day's  battle,  its  bore  was  perfect,  and  hence  it  was  as 
accurate  as  a  smooth-bore  could  be.  Mitchell  sighted  this  gun  himself, 
and  also  had  Jimmy  Maher  sight  her.  When  they  got  her  right  they 
pulled  lanyard,  and  the  case  shot  went  right  through  the  brick  wall  be 
tween  the  two  windows  in  the  second  story,  exploding  beautifully  in  the 
house.  The  Rebel  sharpshooters  evidently  did  not  consider  it  a  desirable 
residence  after  that.  Upon  occupying  the  town  on  the  4th  we  learned 


THE  CANNONEER. 


that  this  case  shot  killed  one  and  wounded  another  of  the  sharpshooters. 
It  was  one  of  the  best  shots  I  ever  saw  from  a  smooth-bore  gun. 

About  noon  everything  on  our  extreme  right  was  quiet,  and  we  began 
to  look  anxiously  to  Seminary  Ridge  again  to  see  what  the  massing  of  artil 
lery  and  infantry  there  would  bring  forth.  We  could  see  over  across  the 
valley  a  line  of  Rebel  guns  reaching  from  near  the  Seminary  on  the  north 
clear  down  to  a  point  nearly  opposite  to  the  Peach  Orchard  on  the  south, 
lining  that  ridge  for  over  a  mile  in  length  with  what  was  almost  one  un 
broken  battery,  over  100  guns  strong  !  I  venture  to  say  that  no  man  now 
living  in  this  country  will  ever  see  another  artillery  line  like  it,  at  least 
not  on  our  own  soil.  Looking  to  the  southward  along  Cemetery  Ridge  on 
our  own  side,  so  far  as  we  could  see,  what  appeared  to  be  the  whole  artil 
lery  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  wras  in  similar  formation,  though  we 
could  not  see  it  all  from  our  position. 

It  was  now  past  noon,  very  hot,  and  the  air,  surcharged  with  the 
smoke  and  vapor  of  two  days  of  battle,  held  a  sort  of  murky  haze,  which 
was  almost  sedative  in  its  effect  on  the  senses.  What  little  breeze  there 
was  blew  from  the  south,  but  it  was  not  much.  No  sounds  were  heard 
except  the  clank  of  harness,  the  sharp  tones  of  orders  here  and  there,  and 
the  stamp  of  the  impatient  horses'  hoofs  as  Orderlies  and  staff  officers  flew 
up  and  down  the  line.  One  could  distinctly  hear  the  hum  of  the  honey 
bees  working.  That  sound  took  me  back  to  the  little  garden  behind  our 
old  farm  homestead  away  up  North,  where  the  beehives  stood  in  rowrs  on 
long  planks,  aud  where  I  had  often  gone  in  the  hot  Summer  days  past  to 

lie  down  in  the  shade  of  the 
pear  trees  and  read  a  book  to 
the  music  of  the  humming 
bees !  But  this  thought  was 
instantly  dismissed  as  mere 
maudlin  sentiment,  wholly 
incompatible  with  my  dignity 
as  a  "  veteran. "  Therefore  I 
braced  up,  shoved  the  thumb- 
stall  further  up  on  my 
thumb,  brought  my  eyes 
front  and  scowled  at  the 
enemy  over  across. 

During  this  time  Gen. 
Hunt  came  along  our  line, 
inspecting  the  guns  and  in 
quiring  of  the  officers  about 
their  ammunition,  etc.  When 
he  came  to  us  and  saw  that 
"DON'T  PUT  us  OUT  OF  ACTION."  We  had  but  four  guns  and 

had  lost  four  caissons,  with  hardly  half  enough  horses  even  for  what  we 
had  left,  and  that  our  force  present  for  duty  was  only  about  50  men,  driv- 


THE  COLOSSAL  CANNONADE.  9& 

ers  and  all,  he  stopped,  and  said  :  "If  I  had  known  that  yon  were  in  this 
condition  I  would  have  relieved  you  this  morning  with  a  battery  from  the 
reserve.  I  had  no  idea  you  were  so  much  cut  up." 

"We  have  suffered  some,  sir,"  replied  Ord.  Serg't  Mitchell,  who  was 
for  the  moment  in  command  (Stewart  having  gone  to  a  Surgeon  to  get  his 
wounds  dressed),  "but  we  do  not  want  to  be  put  out  of  action  !  "  whereat 
we  all  cheered.  The  General  smiled,  nodded  his  head  and  rode  off. 

He  had  not  been  gone  a  great  while  when  a  puff  of  white  smoke  came 
from  a  gun  about  the  center  of  the  Rebel  line,  and  then,  almost  before  the 
sound  of  the  report  had  time  to  reach  us,  they  opened  fire  on  their  extreme 
right,  about  opposite  the  Peach  Orchard.  This  opening  fire  ran  swiftly 
along  their  line,  gun  after  gun  and  battery  after  battery  taking  it  up  in 
succession.  It  reminded  me  of  the  "powder  snakes"  we  boys  used  to 
touch  off  on  the  4th  of  July,  where  you  lay  a  long,  sinnous  train  of  pow 
der  on  the  ground  or  sidewalk  and  ignite  it  at  one  end.  But  it  was  on  a 
thousand  times  grander  scale,  and  though  within  one  day  of  the  4th  it  was 
not  being  done  for  fun.  The  explosion  of  their  shells  showed  instantly 
that  they  were  concentrating  their  fire  on  our  center,  some  distance  from 
us,  so  but  few  of  their  projectiles  came  our  way.  Besides,  we  were  so  far 
around  to  our  own  right  that  the  range  was  too  long  for  our  light  twelves, 
except  as  to  the  enemy's  guns  nearest  the  town,  and  that  was  very  long 
range.  With  solid  shot  the  maximum  range  of  a  light  12-pounder3  at  five 
or  six  degrees  elevation,  is  about  1,700  yards,  or  a  mile  in  round  terms, 
whereas  the  nearest  of  the  enemy's  guns  was  more  than  a  mile  from  us; 
so  we  stood  to  our  posts  for  the  time  being  and  watched  the  performance. 
Meantime  eight  guns  that  they  had  posted  on  the  elevation  north  of  the 
town,  commanding  the  Carlisle  and  Mumniasburg  Roads,  fired  a  few 
rounds  at  us,  but  as  the  shells  all  fell  short  or  exploded  in  the  air  before 
they  reached  us,  these  guns  soon  ceased.  We  did  not  reply  to  them.  The 
enemy  served  his  guns  very  slowly,  and  also,  judging  from  the  frequent 
explosions  of  the  caissons  of  our  batteries  to  the  left  of  us,  with  great  pre 
cision.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  we  envied  the  batteries  that  had  the  rifled 
pieces,  Parrotts  or  the  three-inch  Rodmans.  If  ours  had  been  rifled  guns 
wre  could  have  "joined  in."  However,  our  lack  of  employment  afforded 
us  all  the  better  opportunity  to  witness  the  scene.  In  the  light  of  these 
times  it  is  a  great  thing  to  have  witnessed  the  battle  of  the  third  day,  and 
the  great  duel  between  the  concentrated  artillery  of  Meade's  and  Lee's 
armies ! 

Our  shells  did  not  appear  to  blow  up  as  many  of  the  enemy's  caissons 
as  his  did  of  ours.  This  was  because  his  caissons  were  mostly  under  cover 
of  the  woods  in  the  rear  of  his  guns,  or  were  out  of  sight  behind  the  crest, 
while  ours  were  in  the  open  fields  east  of  the  Taneytown  Road,  in  plain 
sight  and  with  no  cover  of  any  kind  ;  in  fact,  their  stray  shells  came  clear 
over  into  the  east  side  of  the  graveyard,  where  our  caissons  were,  and  one 
of  the  latter  was  blown  up,  wounding  two  more  of  our  men,  one  severely. 
Our  Battery  formed  a  pretty  picture  while  this  was  going  on.  An  oil 


94  THE  CAXXOXEEK. 

painting  of  it  that  would  embody  recognizable  portraits  of  the  men,  if  one 
were  possible,  could  entice  a  good  many  shekels  from  my  pocket  at  this 
time.  Stewart  stood  most  of  the  time  near  the  Cemetery  gate,  with  one 
arm  thrown  over  the  neck  of  his  horse  and  a  field-glass  in  the  other  hand, 
sweeping  the  scene  from  end  to  end.  The  men  stood  at  ease  at  their  guns, 
some  leaning  against  the  wheels,  others  standing  up  on  the  "cheeks"  or 
axles,  all  eyes  bent  on  the  stupendous  drama  before  them,  the  like  of 
which  no  one  ever  saw  before,  and  in  all  probability  no  one  will  ever  see 
•again,  commenting  to  one  another  on  the  incidents  of  the  practice ;  com 
paring  and  criticizing  the  performance  of  the  respective  Rebel  batteries, 
and  all  the  time  regretting  that  the  range  was  too  great  for  our  own  little 
brass  twelves. 

"Oh,  well,  boys,  be  patient,"  said  Mitchell.  "All  this  is  to  hammer 
our  folks  down  to  the  left  and  pave  the  way  for  their  infantry.  There's 

going  to  be  a of  a  charge  pretty  soon,  along  the  whole  line,  and  then 

we'll  come  in  for  our  share.  Keep  your  shirts  on,  boys  ! " 

The  thing  that  we  regretted  most  was  that,  owing  to  the  convex  curve 
of  Cemetery  Ridge,  and  our  position  being  a  little  too  far  to  the  right,  we 
could  not  see  the  guns  of  our  own  batteries  that  were  in  action,  except 
those  immediately  to  our  left,  in  the  road  below  the  Cemetery  gate.  But 
excepting  now  and  then  a  stray  shell  that  struck  below  the  road,  or  more 
rarely  went  over  the  road  and  burst  among  the  tombstones,  the  Rebels 
paid  but  little  attention  to  the  right  of  our  line,  although  these  two  rifle 
batteries  in  the  road  must  have  been  doing  effective  work  against  the 
Rebel  left.  All  this  lasted  about  an  hour  and  a  half,  during  which  time 
the  Rebels  must  have  fired  60  or  70  rounds  per  gun,  and  our  folks  perhaps 
more.  The  men  in  the  rifle  batteries  to  our  immediate  left  told  us  that 
night  that  they  had  used  up  all  their  shell  and  shrapnel. 

By  3  o'clock  the  fire  on  both  sides  slackened  visibly.  This  was  be 
cause  the  guns  were  getting  hot  and  the  Cannoneers  tired  and  hot,  too,  for 
the  afternoon  was  sultry.  About  half-past  three  our  guns  ceased  firing  al 
together  along  the  whole  line. 

While  this  grand  artillery  duel  had  been  going  on  to  our  left,  a  slow, 
desultory  exchange  of  shots  had  occurred  on  the  right  between  some  Rebel 
guns  posted  in  the  fields  northeast  of  Gettysburg  village  and  the  batteries 
that  were  in  line  with  the  Eleventh  Corps.  But  this  had  been  at  very  long 
range,  and  was  unimportant  when  compared  with  the  grand  chorus  from 
Seminary  Ridge. 

After  the  artillery  fire  had  ceased  there  was  a  lull  of  20  minutes  or  half 
an  hour,  and  then  the  grandest  of  all  spectacles  recorded  in  history  burst 
upon  our  view.  We  were  where  we  could  see  Pickett's  column  first  come 
out  of  their  cover ;  where  we  could  watch  every  step  of  their  progress  for 
half  a  mile  across  the  fields,  and  observe  the  effect  of  the  renewed  fire  of 
our  batteries  to  the  left  of  us  on  his  men.  It  is  true  that,  owing  to  the 
trend  of  Cemetery  Ridge,  the  final  collision  between  his  men  and  those  of 
Gibbon's  Division,  of  the  Second  Corps,  and  Doubleday's,  of  the  First,  was 


PICKETT'S  CHARGE.  95 

shut  out  from  us,  but  we  saw  them  recoil  and  witnessed  their  flight  back 
to  their  own  lines.  Our  view  was  infinitely  clearer  and  less  obstructed 
than  was  that  of  the  troops  against  whom  the  onset  was  made,  because  the 
smoke  drifted  constantly  away  from  us,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  brief 
cannonade  of  spherical  case  against  the  Rebel  batteries  near  the  town,  we 
did  nothing  but  look  on.  Moreover,  as  this  cannonade  occurred  during 
the  interval  when  Pickett's  column  was  in  collision  with  Gibbon's  Di 
vision,  and  shut  out  from  us  by  the  curve  of  the  ridge,  we  did  not  really 
lose  any  part  of  the  scene  by  reason  of  it.  It  was  some  minutes  after  the 
artillery  ceased  firing  before  the  Rebel  infantry  came  out  of  the  woods 
behind  their  guns  and  started  on  the  great  charge.  They  had  to  traverse 
about  a  mile.  At  first  there  was  a  gentle  slope  down  the  east  side  of  Semi 
nary  Ridge  for  a  third  of  a  mile,  then,  say,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  level  or 
slightly  undulating  ground,  and  then  another  80  rods  or  so  of  a  consider 
able  "up  grade,"  forming  the  west  slope  of  Cemetery  Ridge,  the  place  at 
which  they  struck  our  line  being  the  lowest  point  in  that  ridge  between 
Cemetery  Hill  proper  and  the  Round  Tops.  As  they  came  out  of  the 
woods  they  appeared  in  line  of  battle  about  one  brigade  front  extended. 
The  first  line  had  gotten,  say,  30  rods  from  the  woods  when  a  second  line 
emerged  of  about  the  same  strength  as  the  first,  and  this  was,  in  turn,  fol 
lowed  by  a  third  at  a  similar  distance.  They  moved  down  the  slope  and 
across  the  level  ground  very  rapidly,  but  not  at  double  quick.  Stewart, 
watching  them,  remarked  to  Mitchell :  ' '  They  mean  business.  You  notice 
how  few  of  their  officers  are  mounted.  They  are  going  to  try  to  break  our 
center.  I  think  it  is  their  last  effort." 

When  these  three  lines  had  got  down  onto  the  level  ground  another 
long  line  moved  out  from  behind  the  ridge  near  the  village  and  began 
to  advance  slowly  toward  our  position,  keeping  on  the  left  flank  and  a  little 
in  the  rear  of  the  force  that  was  making  the  main  charge.  We  at  once 
prepared  to  give  them  a  hot  reception.  Some  of  our  infantry  that  had 
been  lying  down  behind  the  road  now  got  up  and  deployed  down  the  hill 
in  skirmish  line,  while  the  others  stood  up  and  formed  line  of  battle  in  the 
road  to  our  left. 

At  this  instant  the  scene  down  to  the  left  where  the  main  line  was 
charging  reached  its  climax.  Every  gun  in  our  lines  that  could  reach  them 
was  going,  and  owing  to  the  openness  of  the  level  ground  they  had  to  cross 
frightful  execution  was  being  done  at  every  step.  As  we  could  not  fire  at 
them  after  they  got  within  the  range  of  our  guns  without  firing  along  the 
front  of  our  own  line,  and  as  the  force  in  our  front  was  not  yet  within  easy 
range,  we  had  nothing  to  do  but  look  on.  Noticing  expressions  of  anxiety 
on  our  faces  Mitchell  said,  "Steady  boys.  They  can't  break  the  line  down 
there.  I  only  hope  that  those  fellows  (pointing  to  the  force  in  our  own 
front)  will  come  on,  too."  Then  mounting  his  horse  he  rode  round  past 
the  Cemetery  gate  and  down  into  the  field  below,  where  he  could  see  better. 
In  a  moment  he  came  back  and  said  :  ' '  They  are  going  to  strike  the  Second 
Corps  and  Doubleday's  Division,  of  ours.  They  couldn't  fall  into  better 


96  THE  CANXONEEK. 

hands.  It's  all  right."  Meantime  the  advance  line  of  the  charging  force 
had  got  across  the  level  ground  and  had  begun  to  climb  the  slope  of  Ceme 
tery  Eidge.  This  brought  them  into  contact  with  our  advanced  skir 
mishers,  who  lined  every  stone  wall,  clump  of  bushes  and  bowlder  in  the 
fields  along  the  Emmittsburg  Road,  and  who  opened  a  deadly  fusillade. 
Then,  for  the  first  time,  the  charging  troops  began  to  use  their  muskets. 
It  was  now  about  4  o'clock,  and  though  the  sinking  sun  was  shining  bright 
and  hot  the  enormous  amount  of  smoke  that  had  drifted  over  to  the  west 
ward  made  the  air  seem  like  one  of  those  soft,  hazy  effects  that  you  see  in 
Indian  Summer.  But  the  peacefulness  of  nature  found  no  response.  On 
the  contrary,  the  whole  expanse  between  the  two  ridges  was  a  pandemonium 
of  yelling  soldiers,  flashing  muskets,  shells  bursting  in  air  and  on  the 
ground,  riderless  horses  tearing  about,  barns,  houses  and  haystacks  on 
fire — everywhere  flame,  smoke  and  every  other  evidence  of  destruction  ; 
while  above  all  was  the  stupendous  uproar  of  a  hundred  cannon,  30,000 
muskets  and  myriads  of  bursting  shells — the  whole  making  one  ceaseless 
crash,  as  if  the  world  was  breaking  up  ! 

Our  position  was  just  at  the  north  bend  of  Cemetery  Ridge,  near  the 
point  where  the  Emmittsburg  and  Baltimore  Roads  meet,  just  before  enter 
ing  the  village.  And  if  you  will  lay  a  ruler  on  the  map,  allowing  for  the 
trend  of  the  ridge,  you  will  see  that  our  line  of  observation  was  about  coin 
cident  with  the  line  of  the  Emmittsburg  Road,  so  that  when  the  enemy 
crossed  it  at  the  point  he  was  charging  on  he  passed  out  of  our  view,  and 
we  could  not  observe  the  further  proceedings  until  he  got  back  to  the  same 
point  in  his  retreat.  We  regretted,  this,  because,  according  to  all  the  ac 
counts,  by  far  the  most  interesting  struggle  of  the  whole  battle,  and  one  of 
the  most  thrilling  in  history,  occurred  in  the  final  collision  between  the 
enemy  and  Gibbon's  men,  who  were  holding  the  position  that  they  struck; 
so  a  description  of  this  culminating  scene  cannot  be  attempted  here. 

But  at  this  moment  we  had  some  business  of  our  own  to  attend  to.  As 
Pickett's  lines  crossed  the  Emmittsburg  Road  and  pressed  up  the  slope  the 
Rebel  infantry  in  our  own  front  began  to  advance  again,  this  time  more 
rapidly  than  at  first,  and  soon  got  within  our  range,  their  left  flank  reach 
ing  to  the  southern  edge  of  the  town ;  in  fact,  their  extreme  left  was 
entering  the  streets.  We  now  got  orders  to  open  on  them  with  spherical 
case,  to  bear  on  their  left  as  far  as  we  could  without  shelling  the  town 
itself.  We  fired  slowly  several  rounds,  but  as  the  enemy  halted  again  we 
ceased.  Our  practice  was  very  good  ;  every  one  of  our  case  shot  struck  and 
exploded  right  in  his  ranks,  and,  supposing  that  the  main  object  was  to 
hammer  the  enemy  as  much  as  possible,  we  could  not  see  why  we  were 
not  permitted  to  go  ahead. 

We  had  hardly  ceased  firing  when  we  began  to  notice  scattered  groups 
of  Rebels  running  as  fast  as  they  could  back  across  the  Emmittsburg  Road, 
and  making  tracks  for  their  own  lines.  As  soon  as  Stewart  saw  them  he 
exclaimed:  "By  G — ,  boys,  we've  got  'em  now!  They've  broke  all  to 


A  REBEL  DESERTER.  97 

As  the  Captain  was  near  our  gun  when  he  said  this,  the  writer  asked : 
"  Are  they  whipped  now,  sir?  " 

He  looked  somewhat  amused  at  my  earnestness,  and  replied  :  "Yes, 
yes,  my  son,  they  are  whipped  now,  ibr  good.  They  can't  recover  from 
this.  It  is  the  last  of  them  ! ' ' 

During  their  flight  our  guns  down  to  the  left  kept  pouring  case  shot 
into  their  disordered  masses,  but  there  was  no  sign  of  our  infantry  follow 
ing  them.  I  asked  Mitchell  why  our  infantry  was  not  at  their  heels,  and 
he  replied  :  "Our  infantry  has  probably  got  all  it  can  do  to  stay  where  it 
is ! "  which  raised  the  laugh  on  me.  The  fact  was  that  our  infantry  did 
want  to  follow  them,  and  one  division  (Crawford's)  advanced  so  far  that 
we  could  see  them  from  our  position  ;  but  they  halted  this  side  of  the 
Peach  Orchard.  The  troops  in  our  own  front  (Fender's)  also  began  to  fall 
back  rapidly,  and  were  soon  back  on  the  top  of  Seminary  Ridge.  The 
flight  of  Pickett's  men  lasted  some  20  or  30  minutes,  by  which  time  the 
level  ground  between  the  ridges  was  cleared  of  the  enemy,  except  strag 
glers  here  and  there.  Some  of  their  guns  down  opposite  the  Peach  Orchard 
now  began  to  fire,  but  did  not  keep  it  up  long.  I  suppose  that  was  done 
to  show  that  they  were  ready  for  us,  if  we  wanted  to  make  a  counter 
attack. 

From  this  time  till  dark  nothing  was  done.  Our  lines  were  reformed- 
all  along  Cemetery  Ridge,  additional  guns  were  brought  up  from  the  re 
serve  artillery  and  strong  picket  lines  thrown  out.  But  soon  after  dark 
we  heard  sounds  to  the  north  of  our  position,  which  indicated  a  retreat  of 
the  enemy  from  his  position  on  that  side.  At  roll  call  Stewart  said  that 
"  the  enemy  would  doubtless  be  gone  in  the  morning  ;  that  he  felt  assured 
in  saying  that  we  had  won  a  great  victory,  and  that  the  battle  of  Gettys 
burg  would  be  forever  one  of  the  most  famous  in  history. ' '  He  made  quite 
a  little  speech  on  this  occasion,  as  was  his  custom  after  a  battle.  Among 
other  things  he  said  that  just  at  this  time  and  under  these  circumstances 
he  could  not  trust  his  feelings  in  the  attempt  to  say  how  much  he  ap 
preciated  the  way  the  boys  had  stood  by  him.  Where  all,  from  the  oldest 
Regular  to  the  youngest  recruit,  had  done  so  well  and  served  so  faithfully, 
it  would  be  invidious  to  mention  individuals.  But  he  must  say  that  what 
ever  might  be  the  future  of  the  old  Battery ,  its  past  at  least  was  secure  in 
the  glory  of  duty  well  done  and  great  deeds  accomplished. 

Just  before  dark,  or  at  dark,  an  interesting  incident  occurred.  The 
enemy  was  preparing  to  withdraw  from  the  town,  and  about  dark  one  of 
their  pickets  made  a  break  for  our  lines.  His  comrades  evidently  saw 
what  he  was  up  to,  and  they  sent  two  or  three  bullets  after  him,  but  with 
no  effect.  Our  own  infantry  pickets  halted  him  at  the  stone  wall  and  dis 
armed  him,  but  soon  let  him  pass,  and  he  came  into  the  Battery,  where 
we  received  him  cordially.  He  said  he  belonged  in  Pittsburg,  but  was  in 
New  Orleans  when  the  war  broke  out  in  1861,  being  a  steamboat  hand  on 
the  river.  In  a  drunken  frolic  he  and  several  more  "shipped  "in  Beverly 
Kennon's  "Louisiana  Navy,"  and  served  in  it  up  to  the  catpure  of  New 


98  THE  CANNONEER. 

Orleans,  when  they  were  drafted  off  into  the  Confederate  army,  he  getting 
into  the  5th  Louisiana,  which  was  one  of  the  so-called  "Tiger"  regiments. 
He  told  us  that  his  regiment  belonged  to  Hays's  Brigade,  of  Early's  Divis 
ion,  Swell's  Corps,  and  said  it  was  his  brigade  that  had  got  so  near  to  us 
in  the  charge  at  dusk  on  the  second  day.  He  said  that  he  himself  got  on 
our  side  of  the  stone  wall,  and  would  have  staid  there  under  pretense  of 
being  wounded  and  crawled  into  our  lines,  but  was  borne  back  with  his 
comrades  in  the  rush  when  they  broke.  We  gave  him  pork,  hardtack  and 
coffee,  which  we  got  then  for  the  first  time  since  the  morning  of  the  2d. 
He  gave  us  in  return  a  great  deal  of  news.  He  said  the  Rebels  were  much 
disheartened  at  their  repeated  failures  to  force  our  lines.  All  their  troops 
believed  after  the  success  of  the  first  day  that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
would  retreat  toward  Washington,  leaving  them  to  forage  at  will  through 
the  rich  country  they  were  in.  He  said  that  when  the  Rebel  troops  ap 
proached  Gettysburg,  after  the  few  brushes  they  had  had  with  the  militia, 
they  fully  believed  that  they  could  clean  up  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in 
about  four  hours  and  put  an  end  to  the  war.  "And  to  tell  you  the  truth? 
boys,"  he  added,  "I  began  to  think  so  myself  after  Chancellorsville. "  He 
had  been  in  Jackson's  celebrated  attack  on  the  Eleventh  Corps  there. 

But  he  told  us  that  the  Rebel  Generals  could  not  get  their  men  to  at 
tack  our  strong  positions  on  Cemetery  Hill  any  more.  He  said  that  it  had 
been  reported  in  Hays's  Brigade  during  that  afternoon  that  Gen.  Ewell  had 
tried  to  get  Gordon's  Brigade  to  lead  another  assault  on  the  north  front  of 
the  hill,  where  the  "Tigers"  had  charged  the  night  before,  but  the  men 
would  not  try  it.  [This  was  doubtless  a  ' '  camp  canard, "  as  no  mention 
of  it  can  be  found  in  any  history.]  But  he  also  declared  that  if  Stone 
wall  Jackson  had  been  alive  and  in  command,  instead  of  Ewell,  that  corps 
would  have  stormed  the  hill  at  the  end  of  the  first  day,  before  we  could 
have  recovered  from  our  reverses  in  the  battle  west  of  the  town.  It  is 
worth  while  to  consider  that  this  is  possibly  true.  It  is  certain  that  Jack 
son  could  make  his  men  do  more  than  any  other  commander  ever  could ; 
and  so,  if  he  had  been  alive  and  there,  he  might  have  made  them  storm 
the  hill.  But  he  wasn't  there.  And  they  never  "stormed  the  hill." 

The  night  of  the  3d  was  passed  in  the  old  position,  where  nothing 
occurred  to  disturb  our  rest,  though  the  camp  guard  said  that  there  had 
been  some  picket  firing  away  down  on  the  left  all  night. 

At  dawn  on  the  4th  of  July  we  stood  to  posts  again,  as  usual,  and 
though  the  enemy  was  still  plainly  visible  in  his  old  lines  on  Seminary 
Ridge,  his  movements  very  early  in  the  day  convinced  us  that  he  was  get 
ting  ready  to  move  off. 

The  roll  call  of  that  Sunday  morning  was  an  affecting  scene.  The 
battle  was  over  and  it  was  time  to  "render  the  butcher's  bill "  of  the  old 
Battery.  Mitchell  called  the  roll  with  faltering  voice,  and  Stewart  delib 
erately  turned  on  his  heel  and  limped  over  into  the  Cemetery,  where  our 
remaining  caissons  were.  It  took  quite  a  while  to  call  that  roll.  One 
reason  was  because  we  had  been  forced  out  of  the  position  in  which  most 


THE  ''BUTCHER'S  BILL."  99 

of  the  victims  had  fallen  (the  Kailroad  Cat  the  first  day)  and  could  not 
take  care  of  our  wounded,  so  there  was  much  doubt  as  to  how  they  had 
fared  or  what  had  become  of  them.  Those  absolutely  known  to  have  been 
killed  were  John  Sheehau,  one  of  the  old  Regulars ;  Charley  Sprague,  6th 
Wisconsin ;  Dave  Maffitt,  7th  Wisconsin  (serving  temporarily)  ;  Uri  Pal 
mer,  6th  Wisconsin,  and  Richard  Allen,  an  infantryman  from  one  of  the 
regiments  of  the  Iron  Brigade,  who,  being  separated  from  his  command  in 
the  final  wreck,  and  having  lost  his  musket,  heroically  fell  in  to  help  carry 
canister  for  McDougall's  gun  in  the  very  vortex  of  the  almost  hand-to-hand 
struggle  between  the  left  half-battery  and  Scales's  Brigade.  John  Sheehan 
was,  as  his  name  indicates,  an  Irishman.  He  had  got  a  slight  wound  in 
the  left  arm  early  in  the  action,  but,  with  the  traditional  pluck  of  his  war 
rior  race,  refused  to  go  to  the  rear,  though  ordered  to  do  so  by  Mitchell. 
His  death  wound  was  a  rifle  bullet  through  the  heart,  which  he  received 
from  a  sharpshooter  while  sticking  to  his  post  despite  his  previous  wound. 
He  was  a  noble  soldier,  and  deserves  the  gratitude  of  his  adopted  couutiy. 
Charley  Sprague  was  a  smooth-faced  boy  hardly  20  years  of  age — a  Wis 
consin  volunteer  detached  in  the  Battery,  and  a  dear  friend  of  the  writer. 
He  fell  comparatively  early  in  the  action,  shot  through  the  head  while  in 
the  act  of  serving  a  round  of  canister  on  his  piece.  Capt.  Stewart,  in  ap 
prising  Charley's  relatives  of  his  sad  fate,  described  him  as  "one  of  the 
very  best  and  bravest  of  my  soldier  boys,  and  one  whose  loss  is  mourned 
by  every  one  in  the  Battery."  Maffitt  was  from  the  7th  Wisconsin,  and 
had  been  in  the  Battery  but  a  few  days.  He  was  never  mustered  on  its 
strength  and  his  name  does  not  appear  on  its  rolls.  Uri  Palmer,  from  the 
6th  Wisconsin,  was  No.  1  on  Henry  Moore's  gun.  He  was  shot  through 
the  throat  in  the  act  of  loading,  and  Henry  had  to  take  the  rammer  from 
his  dying  hands  and  finish  sending  home  the  charge  ! 

The  wounded  were  Capt.  Stewart  (painfully  but  not  disabled),  Lieut. 
Davisou  (ankle  shattered  and  bullet  wound  in  right  breast,  totally  disa 
bled),  Serg't  McBride  (slight),  Serg't  Moore  (injured  by  fall  of  horse  shot 
under  him),  Lance  Serg't  McDougall  (slight),  Corp'l  Greene,  Corp'l  Jerry 
Murphy  (severe),  Corp'l  Packard  (slight,  scalp  wound),  Corp'l  Childs 
(severe),  and  Privates  Ackerrnan,  Blaine,  Barrett,  Bache,  Blakeley,  Bur- 
dick,  Compton,  Collins,  Ebert,  Gardner,  Holland,  Happey,  Johnson,  Jessee, 
Kennedy,  Kingfield,  Kocher,  McDermott,  Monahan,  John  Moore,  Orth, 
Patten,  Rowe,  Shemmell,  George  Smith,  Sheppard  and  Thurston.  There 
were  several  others  slightly  hit,  but  not  enough  to  be  reported  in  the  re 
turns.  Of  those  reported  wounded,  two  —  Burdick  and  Thurston — after 
ward  died.  The  total  was  seven  killed  or  mortally  wounded  and  36 
wounded,  though  three  of  the  latter  did  not  quit,  and  hence  were  not 
reported  in  the  returns  of  casualties.  By  days  the  loss  was  as  follows : 
July  1,  seven  killed  or  died  of  wounds  and  29  wounded ;  July  2,  two 
wounded  ;  July  3,  two  wounded.  Several  of  those  above  named  were  not 
reported  in  Stewart's  official  casualty  list,  as  they  did  not  go. to  hospital. 

The  Battery  and  the  whole  service  suffered  a  great  loss  in  Lieut.  James 


100  THE  CANNONEER. 

Davison,  who  was  permanently  disabled,  so  that  he  had  to  retire  from  active 
service  sometime  afterward.  At  the  time  Davison  was  disabled  he  had 
been  in  the  Regular  Army,  ia  all  grades  from  private  to  Lieutenant,  about 
10  years.  He  had  been  promoted  from  Sergeant-Major  of  the  Artillery 
Reserve,  at  the  personal  request  of  Gen.  Henry  J.  Hunt,  just  about  a  year 
before  Gettysburg,  so  that  he  was  only  at  the  beginning  of  a  career  which 
could  not  have  failed  to  be  one  of  the  most  brilliant  in  the  history  of  the 
war.  He  had  been  mentioned  in  general  reports  for  distinguished  gal 
lantry  in  every  battle  up  to  Gettysburg.  At  the  time  of  Gettysburg  he 
was  not  more  than  28  or  30  years  old,  so  that  he  was  right  in  his  young 
prime  when  stricken  down.  His  disposition  was  generous,  and  in  dealing 
with  the  boys  he  did  not  put  on  the  least  style  or  airs,  but  invariably 
treated  them  as  fellow-soldiers  and  gentlemen ;  at  least  so  long  as  their  con 
duct  justified  it,  which  was  nearly  always  the  case  with  the  men  of  that 
Battery.  Davison  was  the  one  we  always  went  to  for  passes  and  all  that 
sort  of  thing,  and  he  would  never  refuse  a  request  from  a  man  who  did  his 
duty  like  a  soldier.  As  a  fighter  he  was  superb  !  It  is  true  that,  among 
ourselves,  we  used  to  call  him  "  Jimmy, ' '  but  that  was  by  no  means  a  title 
of  disrespect.  On  the  contrary/  it  was  an  expression  of  the  utmost  affec 
tion,  and  indicated  that  we  regarded  him  as  one  of  ourselves  —  a  regard, 
by  the  way,  which  the  history  of  the  left-half  battery  at  the  Railroad  Cut 
the  first  day  of  Gettysburg  sufficiently  testifies.  Every  survivor  of  the  old 
Battery,  wherever  he  may  be,  will  bear  me  out  in  the  statement  that  no 
officer  crippled  in  action  was  ever  more  sincerely  mourned  by  his  men  and 
comrades  than  "Jimmy"  Davison  was  by  the  survivors  of  that  devoted 
little  band  of  Cannoneers  and  Drivers  who  "  stood  by  him ' '  that  awful 
July  afternoon  in  front  of  Mrs.  Thompson's  House  the  first  day  of  Gettys 
burg  !  For  he  was  literally  "the  bravest  of  the  brave"  and  "the  truest 
of  the  true  !  "  In  my  humble  opinion  there  is  not  in  the  annals  of  human 
heroism  a  finer  study  for  the  painter  or  sculptor  than  Jimmy  Davison  amid 
the  wreck  of  his  half-battery  at  Gettysburg,  faint  and  bloody  from  many 
wounds,  his  eagle  face  lit  with  the  battle  flames,  his  arm  outstretched,  and 
his  strong  voice  still  ringing  out  above  the  crash,  bidding  the  remnant  of 
his  boys  to  be  of  good  cheer  and  hurl  defiance  at  their  foes  ! 


CHAPTER  V. 


A 


REVIEW  OF  GETTYSBURG— STRENGTH  AND  LOSSES  OF  THE  ARMIES— 
PURSUIT  OF  LEE — PROSPECT  OF  A  SECOND  ANTIETAM — SAVAGE 
TEMPER  OF  THE  TROOPS — PROMOTION  OF  MITCHELL — SEVERAL 
WEEKS  OF  INACTION — LIVELY  TIMES  IN  CAMP — RECOLLECTIONS 
OF  THE  COMRADES.  _ 

WING  to  the  frequent  and  constant 
changes  in  the  personnel  of  a  Regular 
battery,  manned  chiefly  by  detatched 
volunteers,  H  is  difficult  to  give  the  ex 
act  present-for-duty  roll  in  any  particu 
lar  battle.  Therefore,  for  fear  of  doing 
injustice  by  omission  to  some  worthy 
comrade,  the  author  will  not  attempt  to 
give  the  roll  of  those  present  at  Gettys 
burg,  the  names  of  all  who  fought  there 
having  been  previously  mentioned. 

The  artillery  certainly  had  its  full 
share  of  the  trials  and  glories  of  Gettys 
burg.  In  no  other  battle  of  the  civil 
war — and  hardly  in  any  battle  known 
to  history — was  that  arm  of  the  service 
worked  as  it  was  there.  The  total  number  of  batteries  with  the  army 
was  65.  Of  these  37  were  attached  to  the  different  corps,  19  were  in  the 
reserve  artillery  and  nine  were  with  the  cavalry.  The  following  was  the 
organization  of  the  Union  artillery  at  Gettysburg,  together  with  a  state 
ment  of  its  sufferings  in  the  battle,  in  detail  of  batteries: 

FIRST  CORPS  BRIGADE. 

Col.  Charles  S.  Wainwright. 

Loss. 

2d  Maine  Battery,  Capt.  James  A.  Hall 18 

5th  Maine  Battery,  Capt.  Greenleaf  T.  Stevens 27 

Battery  L,  1st  New  York,  Capt.  Gilbert  H.  Reynolds , 17 

Battery  B,  1st  Pennsylvania,  Capt.  James  H.  Cooper 12 

Battery  B,  4th  Regulars,  Capt.  James  Stewart 40 

114 

SECOND  CORPS  BRIGADE. 

Capt.  John  G.  Hazard. 
Battery  B,  1st  New  York,  Capt.  James  M.  Rorty  and  Lieuts.  Albert  Sheldon 


and  Robert  E.  Rogers  ........................................................ 

Battery  A,  1st  Rhode  Island,  Capt,  William  A.  Arnold  ......................... 

Battery  B,  1st  Rhode  Island,  Lieuts.  Fred  Brown  and  Walter  Perrin  ......... 

Battery  1,  1st  Regulars,  Lieuts.  George  Woodruff  and  Tully  McCrea  ......... 

Battery  A,  4th  Regulars,  Lieut.  Alonzo  Cushing  and  Serg't  Fred  Fuger  ...... 


26 
32 

28 
28 
43 

15T 


102  TfcE  CANNONEER. 

•\V   *    ».c  «   ,Vj  -,  »   ***  '     THIRD  CORPS  BRIGADE. 

Capt.  George  E.  Randolph. 

Loss. 

2d  Jersey  Battery,  Capt.  Judson  Clark  and  Lieut.  Robert  Sims 30 

Battery  D,  1st  New  York,  Capt.  George  Winslow 18 

4th  New  York  Battery,  Capt.  James  E.  Smith 13 

Battery  E,  1st  Rhode  Island,  Lieut.  John  Bucklyn 32 

Battery  K,  4th  Regulars,  Lieuts.  Frank  W.  Seeley  and  Robert  James 25 

106 

FIFTH  CORPS  BRIGADE. 

Capt.  Augustus  P.  Martin. 

3d  Massachusetts  Battery,  Lieut.  A.  F.  Walcott 6 

Battery  C,  1st  New  York,  Capt.  Almont  Barnes 0 

Battery  L,  1st  Ohio,  Capt.  Frank  Gibbs 2 

Battery  D,  5th  Regulars,  Lieuts.  Charles  E.  Hazlett  and  B.  F.  Rittenhouse..  13 
Battery  I,  5th  Regulars,  Lieuts.  M.  F.  Watson  and  C.  C.  McConnell 22 

43 

SIXTH   CORPS  BRIGADE. 

Col.  Charles  H.  Tompkins. 

1st  Massachusetts  Battery,  Capt.  W.  H.  McCartney 0 

1st  New  York  Battery,  Capt.  Andrew  Cowan 12 

3d  New  York  Battery,  Capt.  William  A.  Harn 0 

Battery  C,  1st  Rhode  Island,  Capt.  R.  Waterman 0 

Battery  G,  1st  Rhode  Island,  Capt.  G.  W.  Adams 0 

Battery  D,  2d  Regulars,  Lieut.  E.  B.  Williston 0 

Battery  G,  2d  Regulars,  Lieut.  J.  H.  Butler 0 

Battery  F,  5th  Regulars,  Lieut.  Leonard  Martin 0 

~12 

ELEVENTH  CORPS  BRIGADE. 

Maj.  Thomas  W.  Osborne. 

Battery  1, 1st  New  York,  Capt.  Michael  Weidrich 13 

13th  New  York  Battery,  Capt.  William  Wheeler 11 

Battery  1, 1st  Ohio,  Capt.  Hubert  Dilger 13 

Battery  K,  1st  Ohio,  Capt.  Lewis  Heckman 15 

Battery  G,  4th  Regulars,  Lieuts.  Bayard  Wilkeson  and  Eugene  Bancroft —  17 

69 

TWELFTH  CORPS  BRIGADE. 

Capt.  E.  A.  Muhlenburg. 

Battery  M,  1st  New  York,  Capt.  C.  E.  Winegar 0 

Battery  E,  Pennsylvania,  Lieut.  C.  A.  Atwell 3 

Battery  F,  4th  Regulars,  Lieut.  S.  T.  Rugg 1 

Battery  K,  5th  Regulars,  Lieut.  D.  H.  Kinzie •  •  5 

9 

RESERVE  ARTILLERY. 

Gen.  Robert  O.  Tyler. 

Battery  H,  1st  Regulars,  Capt.  "  Chan. "  Eakin 10 

Battery  F,  3d  Regulars,  Lieut.  John  Turnbull 24 

Battery  C,  4th  Regulars,  Lieut.  Evan  Thomas 18 

Battery  C,  5th  Regulars,  Lieut.  G.  C.  Weir 16 

5th  Massachusetts  Battery,  Capt.  Charles  Phillies 26 

9th  Massachusetts  Battery,  Capt.  John  Bigelow". 28 

15th  New  York  Battery,  Capt.  Paddy  Hart 16 

Battery  C  and  F,  Pennsylvania,  Capt.  James  Thompson 28 

2d  Connecticut  Battery,  Capt.  John  Sterling 5 

5th  New  York  Battery,  Capt.  Elijah  Taft .•  •  •    c 

1st  New  Hampshire  Battery,  Capt.  F.  M.  Edgell ? 

Battery  H,  1st  Ohio,  Lieut.  G.  W.  Norton 7 


RECORD  OF  BATTERIES.  103 

Loss. 

Battery  F  and  G,  1st  Pennsylvania,  Capt.  Bruce  Ricketts 33 

Battery  C,  West  Virginia,  Capt.  Wallace  Hill 4 

Gth^Maine  Battery,  Lieut.  Edwin  Dow 13 

Battery  A,  Maryland,  Capt.  James  Rigby 0 

1st  Jersey  Battery,  Lieut.  A.  N.  Parsons 9 

Battery  G,  1st  New  York,  Capt.  Nelson  Ames 7 

Battery  K,  1st  New  York,  Capt.  R.  H.  Fitzhugh 7 

247 

HORSE-ARTILLERY. 

Capts.  James  M.  Robertson  and  John  C.  Tidball. 

9th  Michigan  Battery,  Capt.  J.  J.  Daniels 5 

6th  New  York  Battery,  Capt.  J.  W.  Martin I 

Battery  B  and  L,  3d  Regulars,  Lieut.  E.  Heaton 0 

Battery  M,  2d  Regulars,  Lieut.  A.  M.  Pennington 1 

Battery  E,  4th  Regulars,  Lieut.  Sam  Elder 1 

Battery  E  and  G,  1st  Regulars,  Capt.  A.  M.  Randol  and  Lieut.  James  Chester  0 

Battery  K,  1st  Regulars,  Capt.  William  M.  Graham 3 

Battery  A,  3d  Regulars,  Lieut.  John  Calef 12 

Battery  C,  3d  Regulars,  Lieut,  W.  D.  Fuller 0 


It  thus  appears  that  of  the  37  batteries  attached  to  army  corps  29 
were  heavily  engaged  during  one  or  more  days  of  the  battle,  and  suffered 
losses  hitherto  unheard  of  in  that  arm  of  the  service.  The  batteries  of  the 
Corps  Artillery  not  suffering  loss  were  Almont  Barnes's  (C),  of  the  1st  New 
York,  belonging  to  the  Fifth  Corps  Brigade,  and  seven  of  the  Sixth  Corps 
batteries,  which  remained  in  reserve  with  that  corps,  only  one  of  its  bat 
teries —  Andrew  Cowan's  1st  New  York — getting  seriously  into  action. 
Barnes's  battery  was  in  position  during  the  cannonade  of  the  third  day  but 
did  not  fire.  Cowan's  battery  was  detached  from  the  Sixth  Corps  Brigade 
on  the  third  day  and  fought  on  the  line  of  Doubleday's  Division  of  the 
First  Corps,  performing  magnificent  service  and  losing  heavily.  Comrade 
W.  E.  Webster,  of  Cowan's  battery,  relates  the  following  anecdote  : 

The  1st  New  York  Independent  Battery  (Cowan's)  was  ordered  to  report 
to  Gen.  Doubleday  on  the  third  day,  and  moved  into  position  under  fire  of  the 
great  cannonade.  Each  piece  opened  fire  as  they  unlimbered.  We  noticed  a  bat 
tery  that  joined  us  on  the  left  with  brass  guns.  They  did  not  return  the  fire  of 
the  Rebels.  Our  Captain  called  Gen.  Hunt's  attention  to  this  fact,  and  the  Gen 
eral  rode  over  to  the  battery  and  said  :  "  Why  are  you  not  returning  this  fire  ?" 
An  officer  jumped  from  the  ground,  saluted  the  General,  and  replied:  "Our 
guns  are  short  range;  we  cannot  reach  them."  It  was  singular,  as  the  John 
nies  were  using  brass  guns  on  us  with  a  vengeance. 

Of  the  19  batteries  of  the  reserve  artillery  every  one  was  in  action 
either  on  the  second  or  third  day,  or  both,  and  all  suffered  loss  except 
Rigby's  1st  Maryland  Battery,  which  was  in  line  with  the  Twelfth  Corps, 
and,  though  sharply  engaged  the  third  day,  happily  escaped  casualty.  Of 
the  nine  horse-batteries  only  one  was  in  action  with  the  infantry.  This 
was  Calef 's  (A),  of  the  2d  Regulars,  which  was  the  first  battery  to  get  into 
action,  and  performed  excellent  service  in  line  with  Wadsworth's  Division 
at  the  opening  of  the  battle  near  Willoughby's  Creek  the  first  day.  \Vhen 


104  THE  CAXXOXEEE. 

the  use  of  artillery  was  so  general,  and  where  all  the  batteries  in  action 
did  so  well,  it  would  be  almost  absurd  to  single  out  any  for  especial  com 
mendation.  If  any  battery  fairly  won  pre-eminence  it  was  doubtless  Alonzo 
Cushing's  (A),  of  the  4th  Kegulars.  This  battery  was  stationed  with  Webb's 
Brigade,  of  the  Second  Corps,  at  the  point  where  Pickett's  charge  culminated, 
and  was  involved  in  the  very  vortex  of  that  immortal  action.  The  enemy's 
infantry,  led  by  Gen.  Armistead  in  person,  got  among  the  guns,  but  the 
devoted  Cannoneers  stood  their  ground,  fighting  hand  to  hand  with  pistols, 
rammer-staves  and  handspikes,  until  the  enemy  were  driven  out  of  the 
battery  by  the  7*2d  Pennsylvania  and  Pickett's  column  collapsed.  The 
Rebel  leader — Gen.  Armistead — fell  mortally  wounded  among  the  guns 
of  Battery  A.  The  noble  Gushing  and  40-odd  of  his  men  were  killed  or 
wounded,  some  of  them  by  the  cold  steel,  and  the  battery  was  left  in  com 
mand  of  Ord.  Serg't  Fred.  Fuger,  who  was  promoted  on  the  spot  for  his 
gallantly. 

Griffin's  Battery  (D),  of  the  5th  Regulars,  was  also  closely  and  desper 
ately  engaged  on  Little  Round  Top  the  second  day,  repulsing  several  heroic 
charges  of  the  famous  Texas  Brigade,  and  losing  its  commander,  Lieut. 
Charles  E.  Hazlett,  an  officer  beloved  by  his  men  and  respected  by  all  who 
knew  him.  Ord.  Serg't  Tom  Broderick,  of  that  battery,  who  maintained 
his  post  to  the  end  of  the  fight,  notwithstanding  a  severe  wound,  was  also 
specially  mentioned  for  distinguished  conduct.  Bigelow's  9th  Massachu 
setts  Battery,  which  had  never  been  seriously  in  action  before,  was  run 
over  by  the  enemy  in  Trestle's  field,  and  its  Cannoneers  defended  their 
pieces,  rough  and  tumble  fashion,  against  the  21st  Mississippi  in  a  man 
ner  worthy  of  the  oldest  Regulars.  But  lack  of  space  forbids  indulgence 
in  the  pleasant  task  of  specially  mentioning  the  behavior  of  the  Union 
Batteries  at  Gettysburg.  Suffice  to  say  that,  so  long  as  history  endures, 
the  record  of  our  artillery  in  that  struggle  can  never  grow  dim. 

I  have  devoted  much  space  to  Gettysburg,  because,  as  a  matter  of 
history,  that  battle  will  always  form  the  "center-piece  "  of  our  great  civil 
war.  Students  of  history  have  noted  the  tendency  of  the  mind  to  crystal 
lize  events.  In  war  annals  this  tendency  operates  to  select  one  great  battle 
as  the  center  or  focus  of  any  war  and  to  group  all  others  in  subordinate 
places  about  it.  Gettysburg  has  already  taken  that  rank  among  our  bat 
tles.  Many  other  great  and  desperate  engagements  were  fought  to  save 
the  Union,  and  in  all  of  them  Americans  did  miracles  of  valor.  But  away 
yonder  in  the  future,  when  all  of  ns  shall  have  passed  away,  and  our 
descendants  shall  pride  themselves  on  our  deeds  as  we  now  pride  ourselves 
on  the  deeds  of  our  Revolutionary  grandsires,  the  proudest  of  all  boasts 
will  be,  "My  grandfather  was  a  soldier  at  Gettysburg  !  "  Hence,  in  view 
of  the  peculiar  interest  which  must  eternally  abide  by  the  records  of  that 
battle.  I  have  gone  somewhat  outside  the  natural  scope  of  this  work  in 
dealing  with  them.  I  therefore  offer  the  following  survey  of  the  forces 
engaged,  their  organization,  strength  and  losses.  On  May  30  Gen.  Lee 
issued  an  order  reorganizing  his  army.  At  that  time  it  was  in  two  army 


REORGANIZATION  OF  LEE'S  ARMY.  105 

corps,  each  of  four  divisions,  of  strength  as  follows,  according  to  the  field 
return  of  May  31,  1863  : 

FIRST    CORPS  — LONGSTREET. 

Officers.  Men.  Total. 

Anderson's  Division 643  6,797  7,440 

McLaws's  Division 627  6,684  7,311 

Hood's  Division 690  7,030  7,730 

Pickett's  Division 615  6,072  6,687 

Artillery  Brigade 82  1,492  1,574 

Totals 2,&57         28,075       30,732 

SECOND    CORPS  — HILL,  (EWELL). 

Hill's  Division 738  8,501  9,299 

Rodes's  Division 648  7,806  8,454 

Early's  Division 575  6,368  6,943 

Johnson's  Division 475  5,089  5,564 

Artillery  Brigade 113  2,215  2,328 

Totals 2,549         29,979        32,588 

This  is  a  force  of  63,320  of  infantry  and  artillery. 

By  the  same  return  Stuart's  Cavalry  Corps  is  given  at  a  strength  of 
10,292.  In  a  special  return,  dated  May  25,  Stuart  describes  2,261  of  his 
men  as  " non-effective "  and  6,216  as  "effective."  But  as  Stuart's  cav 
alry  cut  little  or  no  figure  in  the  main  battle  of  Gettysburg,  its  force  is 
not  material  to  the  purposes  of  this  paper.  The  reorganization  of  Lee's 
army  was  made  by  creating  three  army  corps  of  three  divisions  each  out 
of  the  two  corps  of  four  divisions  each  then  existing.  The  additional 
division  necessary  to  make  this  arrangement  was  organized  by  tak 
ing  Heth's  and  Archer's  Brigades  from  Hill's  Division,  and  adding  to 
them  the  new  brigades  of  Pettigrew  and  Cooke,  and  shortly  afterward 
Field's  Brigade,  then  under  Brokenborough,  was  assigned  to  this  division, 
which  was  placed  under  command  of  Gen.  Henry  Heth.  The  rest  of  Hill's 
Division,  consisting  of  the  brigades  of  Fender  (Perrin),  Lane,  Thomas  and 
McGowan  (Scales),  was  placed  under  command  of  Gen.  Fender.  The 
division  of  Gen.  Anderson  was  then  detached  from  the  First  Corps,  and 
with  the  two  newly-organized  divisions  of  Heth  and  Fender  above  described 
formed  the  Third  Corps,  under  command  of  A.  P.  Hill.  The  First  Corps 
then  consisted  of  the  divisions  of  McLaws,  Hood  and  Pickett,  and  the  Sec 
ond  of  those  of  Rodes,  Early  and  Edward  Johnson. 

We  have  seen  that  the  force  on  May  31  was  63,320  of  infantry  and 
artillery.  Three  brigades  were  subsequently  added,  but  as  Corse's  Brigade 
of  Pickett's  and  Cooke's  of  Heth's  Divisions  remained  behind  and  did  not 
take  part  in  the  Pennsylvania  campaign,  it  is  fair  to  reckon  only  Pettigrew 's 
as  actually  added  to  the  force  operating.  This  brigade  is  described  in  one 
of  the  Confederate  regimental  reports  as  "entering  the  battle  (Gettysburg) 
over  2,000  strong."  From  this  it  is  proper  to  say  that  Lee's  army,  upon 
its  reorganization,  was  65,000  strong,  infantry  and  artillery.  It  is  well 
known  that  nearly  all  the  Confederate  commands  gained  men  during  the 
northward  movement  by  the  return  of  convalescents,  amnestied  deserters, 
etc.,  but  there  are  no  definite  data  of  the  numbers  so  gained. 


106  THE  CANNONEEB. 

But  one  Confederate  division  commander  makes  an  official  return  of 
his  strength  on  June  30.  This  is  Rodes,  who,  in  a  field  return  dated  Car 
lisle,  Pa.,  gives  his  strength  as  follows : 

Daniel's  Brigade 2,294 

Doles's  Brigade 1,404 

Iverson's  Brigade 1,470 

Ramseur's  Brigade 1,080 

Rodes's  (O'Neall's)  Brigade 1,794 

Total 8,042 

The  commanding  officer  of  the  26th  North  Carolina,  in  Heth's  Division, 
states  in  his  report  that  that  division  "went  into  the  battle  about  8,000 
strong, ' '  but  gives  no  details. 

The  above  data  are  given  just  as  they  occur  in  the  official  reports.  It 
appears  that  Rodes's  was  the  largest  division  in  the  Confederate  army  after 
Hill's  was  cut  in  two  by  the  reorganization,  while  Edward  Johnson's  ap 
pears  to  have  been  the  smallest.  Johnson  speaks  in  one  place  of  having 
"6,200  men,  of  whom  one-third  are  barefooted."  [Winchester,  June  14.] 
This  would  indicate  that  his  division  had  gained  about  600  since  leaving 
Fredericksburg,  or  since  May  31.  On  the  other  hand,  Rodes's  reported 
strength  of  8,042  at  Carlisle,  June  30,  is  about  400  less  than  his  strength 
May  31.  It  is  to  be  regretted,  for  the  sake  of  historical  accuracy,  that 
Rodes's  example  was  not  followed  by  the  other  Confederate  division  com 
manders  on  June  30 ;  because,  if  it  had  been,  all  comparison  and  compu 
tation  would  have  been  unnecessary.  However,  if  we  take  Rodes's  as  the 
largest  and  Edward  Johnson's  as  the  smallest  of  the  Confederate  divisions, 
we  observe  that  they  average  7,000  each,  and  that  average  multiplied  by 
nine  gives  a  total  strength  of  63,000,  besides  the  corps  artillery.  This  is 
probably  as  near  as  can  ever  be  definitely  ascertained. 

This  force  was  brigaded  as  follows  : 

Brigades. 

Pickett's  Division 4 

Hood's  Division 4 

McLaws's  Division 4 

Early 's  Division 4 

Johnson's  Division 4 

Rodes's  Division 5 

Anderson's  Division 5 

Heth's  Division 5 

Peiider's  Division 4 


Total  infantry  brigades 

Cavalry  brigades  (exclusive  of  Imboden's  command). 


If  to  this  force  of  63,000  infantry  we  add  the  6,212  "effective  cavalry  " 
in  Stuart's  return  of  May  25  and  the  Corps  Artillery,  the  effective  total  will 
be  about  71,000  of  all  arms  "effective  present"  of  Lee's  army  at  Gettys 
burg,  after  making  all  reasonable  deductions  and  accepting  the  Confederate 
figures  throughout. 

Maj.  E.  C.  Dawes,  late  53d  Ohio,  who  has  given  much  time  and 
ability  to  the  statistics  of  the  war,  has  evolved  the  following  estimates  of 


MAJ.  DAWES'S  ESTIMATE.  107 

the  Confederate  strength  at  Gettysburg,  which  he  has  courteously  sent  to 

the  author  of  this  sketch : 

The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  by  its  return  of  May  31, 1863,  numbered 

present  for  duty,  officers  and  men- 
Gen.  Lee  and  staff 17 

Infantry 59,467 

Cavalry 10,293 

Artillery,  206  pieces 4,702 

74,478 

Alexander's  and  Garnett's  Battalions  of  artillery  are  not  included  in  this 
return.  Alexander's  Battalion  had  26  guns,  Garnett's  15.  Estimating  them  at 
the  same  number  of  men  per  gun  as  in  the  battalions  reporting,  gives  935  to 
add  to  the  total,  making  the  line-of -battle  strength  of  the  army,  31st  of  May, 
75,413,  with  247  pieces  of  artillery. 

Early  in  June  the  army  was  reinforced  by  the  infantry  brigade  of  Gen. 
J.  J.  Pettigrew,  from  the  Department  of  Richmond,  with  3,685  officers  and  men 
for  duty,  and  the  brigade  of  Gen.  Joseph  K.  Davis,  from  the  Department  of 
North  Carolina,  with  2,577  for  duty.  The  strength  of  these  brigades  is  taken 
from  the  return  of  the  Department  of  Richmond  and  of  North  Carolina  for 
May  31, 1863.  Corse's  Brigade,  of  Pickett's  Division,  and  one  of  Pettigrew's  regi 
ments,  about  2,200  in  all,  were  left  at  Hanover  Junction.  Three  of  Gen.  Early's 
regiments,  numbering,  according  to  an  article  by  that  officer  in  Volume  V  of 
the  Southern  Historical  Society  Papers,  919  for  duty,  were  detached  at  Winches 
ter  to  guard  prisoners  and  garrison  that  place.  The  25th  Virginia,  of  Johnson's 
Division,  and  the  31st  Virginia,  of  Early's  Division,  which  had  been  on  detached 
service  since  April  20,  rejoined  their  commands  near  Winchester  with  700  men 
for  duty,  and  at  the  same  place  the  2d  Maryland  Battalion  was  added  to  John 
son's  Division.  Maj.  Goldsborough,  in  his  history  of  the  "Maryland  Line," 
says  it  took  500  men  into  action  at  Gettysburg.  The  Confederate  infantry  that 
crossed  the  Potomac,  assuming  that  the  gain  by  recruits,  conscripts,  and  re 
turn  of  convalescent,  f urloughed  and  detached  men  was  offset  by  the  small 
loss  at  Winchester  and  by  sickness  and  desertion,  was  64,000. 

The  cavalry  was  reinforced  at  Winchester  by  the  1st  Maryland  Battalion, 
300  strong,  and  by  the  brigade  of  Gen.  A.  G.  Jenkins,  1,800  for  duty.  Gen.  Im- 
boden,  with  a  force  which,  in  an  article  in  Tlie  Galaxy  for  April,  1871,  he  states 
as  "about  2,100  effective  mounted  men  and  a  six-gun  battery,"  joined  the  army 
at  Chambersburg.  The  commands  of  Mosby  and  Gilmore  were  also  attached 
to  the  cavalry. 

Two  batteries  of  six  guns  each  were  added  to  the  artillery  —  one,  the  Bal 
timore  Light  Artillery,  at  Winchester ;  one  came  with  Imboden. 

The  Confederate  army  in  the  Gettysburg  campaign  had  for  duty,  in  round 
numbers,  at  least- 
Infantry  64,000 

Cavalry 14,500 

Artillery,  259  pieces 5,900 

-And  on  the  field  of  Gettysburg  80,000  men.  84'400 

It  will  be  noticed  that  there  is  a  considerable  discrepancy  between 
Maj.  Dawes's  figures  and  mine.  The  gallant  Major,  in  my  judgment,  over 
estimates  the  Confederate  cavalry  force  actually  present.  He  adds  Davis's 
Brigade,  which  I  include  in  the  original  estimate.  No  doubt  he  is  right 
in  that  and  I  wrong.  He  gives  Pettigrew's  strength,  as  per  the  return  of 
the  Department  of  Richmond,  April  20,  "3,685"  of  all  ranks,  while  I 
give  it  as  "over  2,000  strong,"  etc.  However,  we  will  leave  the  two  ac 
counts  for  other  students  of  history  to  examine. 


108  THE  CANNONEER. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  confronted  them  with  the  following  strength, 
as  shown  by  the  ''Present  for  Duty  Equipped"  return  of  June  30  : 

Infantry.  Artillery. 

Officers.      Men.  Officers.        Men. 

First  Corps 687            8,716  21               598 

Second  Corps 937          11,436  14              537 

Third  Corps 796           10,451  19               658 

Fifth  Corps 797           11,157  8               547 

Sixth  Corps 986           13,530  33            1,006 

Eleventh  Corps 549            8,648  15               639 

Twelfth  Corps 531            7,673  13               384 

Reserve  Artillery 23               312  72            3,139 

5,386           71,933  194            6,498 


Total  infantry ' 77,208 

Total  artillery 6,692 

Total  infantry  and  artillery 83,900 

Cavalry 10,800 

Grand  total 94,700 

But  from  the  94,700  reported  as  "Present  for  Duty  Equipped"  must 
be  deducted  the  14,516  infantry  and  the  1,039  artillery  of  the  Sixth  Corps, 
who,  with  the  exception  of  Cowan's  1st  New  York  Battery,  were  not 
seriously  engaged  in  the  battle,  as  will  be  sufficiently  evident  from  the 
following  facts : 

The  losses  of  the  Sixth  Corps  at  Gettysburg  were  as  follows : 

First  Division 18 

Second  Division 16 

Third  Division 196 

1st  New  York  Battery • 12 

Total 343 

This  loss  was  out  of  a  total  "Effective  Present"  of  15,555,  or  less  than 
1£  per  cent.  By  way  of  comparison  let  us  take  the  First  Corps,  which  had 
D,403  infantry  and  619  artillery.  Its  losses  were  6,059,  or  a  fraction  over 
65  per  cent,  for  the  total  number  engaged. 

Of  course  the  presence  of  the  Sixth  Corps  on  the  field  late  in  the  en 
gagement  had  a  moral  effect,  but  when  we  come  to  consider  the  actual 
fighting  force  of  the  army,  it  is  evident  that  the  strength  of  the  Sixth  Corps 
must  be  deducted. 

Again,  the  Cavalry  Corps  at  Gettysburg  numbered  10,800  men,  and 
they  lost  852,  of  whom  418,  or  nearly  half,  were  from  Buford's  Division,  in 
the  first  day's  fight,  Gregg's  whole  division  losing  only  56  ;  while  of  Kil- 
patrick's  Division,  Custer's  Michigan  Brigade  suffered  a  loss  of  257  out  of 
355  in  the  entire  division.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  belittle  the  services  of 
the  cavalry  or  the  Sixth  Corps ;  but  we  find  that  the  cavalry  and  the  Sixth 
Corps  together  had  the  following  strength  in  that  battle : 

Strength.  Losses. 

Sixth  Corps 15,555  242 

Cavalry 10,800  852 

Totals 26,355  1,094 


LOSSES  BY  ARMY  CORPS.  109 

We  then  observe  that  the  losses  of  the  rest  of  the  army  were  as  follows: 

First  Corps ......  6,059 

Second  Corps 4,369 

Third  Corps 4,211 

Fifth  Corps 2,187 

Eleventh  Corps 3,801 

Twelfth  Corps v 1,082 

Total 21,709 

Thus  we  see  that  while  the  26,355  troops  of  the  cavalry  and  the  Sixth 
Corps  at  Gettysburg  lost  1,094  men,  the  68,345  troops  of  the  other  corps 
lost  21,709  men.  In  one  case  the  total  percentage  of  loss  was  a  little  over 
4  per  cent,  as  for  the  Sixth  Corps  and  the  cavalry,  while  for  the  rest  of  the 
army  the  percentage  of  loss  was  over  33  per  cent,  in  the  aggregate,  vary 
ing  from  65  per  cent,  in  the  First  Corps  to  12^  per  cent,  in  the  Twelfth 
Corps  —  the  two  extremes  of  the  actual  fighting  force. 

Eecurriug  to  the  relative  strength  of  the  combatants  in  the  battle  the 
first  day,  of  which  the  first  shot  was  fired  by  Corp'l  Alphonse  Hodges,  of 
the  9th  New  York  Cavalry,  of  Buford's  Division,  the  following-named  or 
ganizations  of  troops  were  engaged  : 

UNION. 

Strength.    Loss. 

Buford's  Cavalry  Division 3,044          418 

First  Corps 10,003       6,059 

Eleventh  Corps 9,841       3,801 

Totals 22,887      10,278 

CONFEDERATE. 

Heth's  Division 7,040 

Fender's  Division 6,280 

Rodes's  Division 8,042 

Early's  Division 6,446 


Totals 27,808     8,000(about) 

No  one  now  disputes  that  the  Confederate  forces  engaged  July  1  at 
Gettysburg  outnumbered  the  Union  troops  who  could  by  any  possibility 
have  been  considered  ' '  under  fire. ' '  All  the  authorities,  of  which  the  pub 
lished  War  Eecords  are  beyond  doubt  the  most  reliable,  agree  on  this  point. 
The  losses  of  the  First  and  Eleventh  Corps  were  comparatively  small  during 
the  second  and  third  days.  The  First  Corps  could  not  have  lost  to  exceed 
400  men  after  the  first  day,  nearly  all  of  whom  (351)  were  from  Stannard's 
Vermont  Brigade,  which  did  not  get  into  the  first  day's  battle,  but  was 
counted  in  the  original  strength.  The  Eleventh  Corps  suffered  somewhat 
in  the  attack  on  Cemetery  Hill  the  night  of  July  2,  but  not  to  compare 
with  their  losses  the  afternoon  of  the  first  day  north  of  the  town.  It  is, 
therefore,  fair  to  say  that  the  battle  of  the  first  day  was  fought  between 
about  23, 000  Union  troops  and  28,000  Confederates  —  assuming  that  the 
part  of  Early's  Division  not  actively  engaged  was  a  fair  offset  to  Steinwehr's 
Division,  of  the  Eleventh  Corps,  which  remained  on  Cemetery  Hill — or  at 
least  the  larger  part  of  it. 

The  battle  of  the  second  day  was  fought  between  the  Third  and  parts 
of  the  Fifth  and  Second  Corps  on  our  side,  and  the  divisions  of  Hood, 


110  THE  CAXXOXEEK. 

McLaws,  Anderson  and  parts  of  Fender's  and  Heth's  on  the  Confederate 
side,  without  reference  to  the  desultory  attack  by  Early's  Division  on  Ceme 
tery  Hill  at  nightfall.  The  whole  of  the  Third  Corps  was  engaged  (11 ,924 
strong).  Reference  to  the  ' '  Present  for  Duty  Equipped ' '  account  of  brig 
ades  on  June  30  shows  that  about  7,200  out  of  12,507  in  the  Fifth  Corps, 
and  about  8,000  out  of  12,914  in  the  Second,  were  closely  and  heavily  en 
gaged  the  second  day,  together  with  certain  batteries  from  the  Artillery 
Reserve,  which  would  not  appreciably  swell  the  total ;  that  is  to  say,  we 
had  about  27,000  men  heavily  engaged  in  the  left  center  and  left  of  our 
line  the  second  day. 

Opposed  to  these  the  Confederate  force  wras  as  follows,  as  nearly  as  can 
be  ascertained  from  the  returns  : 

Hood's  Division 7,720 

McLaws's  Division 7,311 

Anderson's  Division 7,440 

Fender's  Division  (two  brigades) 2,800 

Heth's  Division  (one  brigade) 1,200 

2(3,471 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  heaviest  part  of  the  second  day's  battle  was 
fought  between  our  left  and  left  center  and  the  Confederate  right  and  right 
center,  with  about  27,000  men  on  our  side  and  26,000  on  theirs,  or  prac 
tically  equal  forces.  Up  to  this  time  the  Sixth  Corps  of  our  army  and 
Pickett's  Division  of  Lee's  army  had  been  absent  from  the  field,  so  that  in 
estimating  the  total  infantry  force  of  each  army  actually  present  we  must 
subtract  the  6,330  of  Pickett's  from  the  60,095  total,  leaving  53,765  ;  and 
the  15, 556  of  the  Sixth  Corps  from  our  77, 208  total,  leaving  61, 652.  There 
fore,  so  far  as  infantry  was  concerned,  53,765  Confederate  and  61,652  Union 
troops  had  been  in  conflict  during  the  two  days.  Of  these,  again ,  up  to 
sundown  on  the  second  day,  neither  the  Twelfth  Corps  of  our  army  nor 
Johnson's  Division  of  Lee's  army  had  been  seriously  engaged,  though  they 
were  in  position  about  Culp's  Hill.  Thus,  if  we  again  subtract  Johnson's 
Division,  6,038,  from  the  Confederate  53,765,  and  the  Twelfth  Corps,  8,193, 
from  our  62,632,  we  shall  see  that,  with  unimportant  exceptions,  only 
47,727  Confederate  and  54,475  Union  infantry  had  been  closely  engaged  in 
the  first  and  second  days'  battles  of  Gettysburg  taken  together — or,  say, 
48,000  and  54,000  in  round  numbers. 

In  this  day's  fighting  the  losses — which  cannot  be  more  than  approxi 
mately  separated  or  divided  between  the  respective  days  —  were  about 
10,000  out  of  27,000  engaged  on  our  side,  and  about  8,500  to  9,000  out  of 
26,000  or  27,000  engaged  on  the  Confederate  side. 

The  third  day  must  be  divided  into  three  parts  : 

First,  the  battle  of  the  forenoon,  between  the  Twelfth  Corps  and  Ed 
ward  Johnson's  Division,  with  parts  of  Early's  and  Rodes's  Divisions,  on 
the  slopes  of  Culp's  Hill. 

Second,  the  grand  cannonade  between  1  and  3:30  in  the  afternoon. 

Third,  the  assault  by  Pickett's  Division  on  the  line  held  by  the  Second 
Corps  and  Doubleday's  Division  of  our  (First)  corps  after  4  p.  m. 


THE  TWELFTH  CORPS.  Ill 

The  force  of  the  Twelfth  Corps  was  8,589,  including  its  artillery.  It 
was  assailed  by  Johnson's  Division,  about  6,000  strong,  reinforced  by  two 
brigades  (O'Neill's  and  Daniel's)  from  Eodes's  Division,  about  2,500  strong 
after  their  losses  of  the  first  day,  and  Gordon's,  from  Early 's  Division,  2,000 
strong. 

The  Twelfth  Corps  was  to  some  extent  aided  by  Shaler's  Brigade,  Third 
Division,  Sixth  Corps,  but  as  this  command  lost  only  75  men  in  the  whole 
battle  they  could  not  have  been  very  closely  engaged.  However,  if  we 
add  Shaler's  1,860  men  to  the  8,589  of  the  Twelfth  Corps,  we  shall  have 
10,449  Union  troops  against  about  10,500  Confederates  in  the  almost  sepa 
rate  battle  of  CulpTs  Hill  during  the  forenoon  of  July  3.  The  losses  are 
stated  as  follows : 

Twelfth  Corps 1,082 

Shaler's  Brigade  (Sixth  Corps) 75 

M57 

Johnson's  Division,  etc 1,872 

Gordon's  Brigade 380 

2,253 

There  is  no  means  of  determining  the  losses  of  O'Neill's  and  Daniel's 
Brigades,  of  Kodes's  Division,  in  this  fight,  as  their  losses  appear  in  bulk, 
including  both  the  first  and  third  days,  they  not  having  been  engaged  at 
all  the  second  day. 

The  artillery  duel  of  the  third  day  of  Gettysburg  is  chiefly  remarkable 
as  the  only  really  great  exhibition  of  strength  in  that  arm  of  the  service 
ever  made  by  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia.  On  no  other  field  during  the 
entire  war  did  Gen.  Lee  develop  a  force  of  over  100  guns  in  line,  or  main 
tain  a  grand  cannonade  for  more  than  an  hour.  As  a  demonstration,  or 
rather  as  a  spectacle,  it  was  superb  ;  but  as  a  military  operation  it  was  not 
effective,  as  the  sequel  showed. 

It  is  not  possible  to  consider  this  cannonade  as  having  had  any  effect 
on  the  fortunes  of  the  battle,  because  its  destructiveness  was  not  such  as 
to  impair  the  power  of  our  infantry  to  resist  and  repulse  the  great  charge 
for  which  it  was  designed  to  pave  the  way,  nor  did  it  cripple  our  own  artil 
lery  to  an  extent  commensurate  with  the  expenditure  of  ammunition  on 
the  part  of  the  enemy,  which  then  and  there  was  irreplaceable.  Hence  I 
think  it  proper  to  say  that  the  great  cannonade  of  July  3  was  an  error  on 
the  part  of  the  Confederate  commander,  because  it  was  the  means  of  ex 
pending  stores  which  he  could  not  and  never  did  replace,  while  its  effects 
were  not  only  not  decisive,  but  did  not  even  serve  to  mitigate  the  conse 
quences  of  the  total  collapse  of  the  aasault  when  attempted. 

In  this  grand  artillery  duel  the  Rebels  had  the  advantage  in  number 
of  guns  actually  engaged  at  any  one  time,  but  we  were  superior  in  equip 
ment  and  in  reserves  wherewith  to  replace  our  batteries  as  they  might  be 
crippled  or  exhausted.  They  also  had  the  advantage  of  position  in  that 
the  lay  of  the  ground  on  their  side  was  such  as  to  afford  good  cover  for 


112  THE  CANNONEER. 

most  of  their  limbers,  caissons,  drivers  and  teams  in  woods  or  behind  crests 
in  their  rear,  whereas  ours  were  necessarily  exposed  in  open  fields  and  sub 
ject  to  the  effects  of  overshots  and  ricochets  for  long  distances  in  rear  of  our 
lines  of  guns.  Still,  with  all  these  advantages  of  position,  which  affected 
our  supporting  infantry  quite  as  much  as  they  did  our  artillery  line,  Gen. 
Lee's  guns  ceased  firing,  with  little  or  nothing  to  show  for  their  efforts  ex 
cept  hot  muzzles  and  empty  caissons,  whereas  our  guns  were  still  able  to 
play  destructively  on  his  infantry  column  of  attack  as  soon  as  it  showed 
its  formation  within  range.  Hence,  all  things  considered,  it  seems  safe  to 
say  that  the  result  of  the  second  epoch  of  the  third  day's  battle  of  Gettys 
burg —  the  artillery  duel  —  was  a  Confederate  failure,  quite  equal  in  mag 
nitude  to  the  collapse  of  Edward  Johnson's  attack  in  the  early  morning 
on  the  Twelfth  Corps  at  Gulp's  Hill,  and  only  prophetic  of  the  culminating 
reverse  of  Pickett's  charge,  which  formed  the  third  epoch  of  that  fateful 
day! 

Pickett's  Division  is  stated  by  the  Confederate  returns  of  June  20  to 
have  had  6,114  present  for  duty  equipped.  It  is,  doubtless,  fair  to  say 
that  it  started  on  its  immortal  "charge  "  with  at  least  5,800  rank  and  file. 
What  its  supports  and  flankers  were  it  is  not  necessary  to  inquire,  because 
they  did  nothing  to  help  it  while  advancing  and  little  to  succor  it  while 
recoiling.  So  far  as  active  attack  was  concerned,  it  is  perfectly  fair  to  say 
that  Pickett's  Division  charged  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Other  Rebel 
commands  made  simultaneous  threats  and  demonstrations,  but  this  was 
the  only  column  of  any  weight  that  struck  our  line.  The  question ,  ' '  What 
did  Lee  hope  to  accomplish  by  Pickett's  charge  ?  "  will  always  be  one  of 
the  most  interesting  in  the  study  of  great  battles.  My  own  impression 
has  always  been,  and  it  has  grown  upon  me  with  increasing  study  and  re 
flection,  that  Gen.  Lee  could  not  have  put  Pickett  in  as  he  did  for  any 
other  purpose  than  to  gain  time.  Lee  was  a  great  General  —  one  of  the 
greatest  that  the  world  has  seen.  From  this  point  of  view  he  must  have 
seen  before  3  o'clock  p.  m.  July  3  that  he  had  lost  the  battle,  and  that  all 
he  could  hope  to  do  would  be  to  secure  the  retreat  of  his  army.  He  had 
been  repulsed  at  every  point  of  hopeful  attack.  His  force  had  been  de 
pleted  by  losses  the  like  of  which  he  had  never  known  before.  His  ammu 
nition  was  nearly  exhausted.  He  wras  far  from  his  base  of  supplies.  But 
one  line  of  retreat  was  open  to  him,  and  to  make  that  available  he  must 
have  leisure  to  withdraw  from  his  positions  of  battle.  To  insure  this  he 
must  make  an  heroic  effort  somewhere  so  brilliant,  no  matter  if  abortive, 
as  to  strike  temporary  terror  to  his  antagonist.  This  was  certainly  the 
immediate  result  of  Pickett's  charge.  If  Gen.  Lee  intended  it  for  that 
purpose  alone  it  was  the  act  of  a  great  General.  If  he  hoped  that  it  might 
succeed  it  was  the  hope  of  a  madman.  Thus  it  seems  clear  that  Pickett's 
charge  was  Lee's  last  resort  to  "brave  a  lost  battle  out, "  and  the  desperate 
expedient  of  a  great  General,  beaten  by  circumstances,  to  make  good  his 
escape  from  what  might  otherwise  have  easily  resulted  in  the  total  wreck 
of  his  defeated  army. 


LOSSES  BY  BRIGADES.  113 

The  losses  of  the  Union  army  were  as  follows,  in  the  aggregate  for  the 
three  days,  stated  by  brigades : 

FIRST  CORPS. 

Loss. 

First  Division,  First  Brigade 1,153 

First  Division,  Second  Brigade 1,003 

Second  Division,  First  Brigade 1,041 

Second  Division,  Second  Brigade 648 

Third  Division,  First  Brigade 898 

Third  Division,  Second  Brigade 853 

Third  Division,  Third  Brigade 351 

Light  Artillery  Brigade 106 


'Botal 6,052 

SECOND  CORPS. 

First  Division,  First  Brigade 330 

First  Division,  Second  Brigade 198 

First  Division,  Third  Brigade ' 358 

First  Division,  Fourth  Brigade 389 

Second  Division,  First  Brigade 768. 

Second  Division,  Second  Brigade 491 

Second  Division,  Third  Brigade 377 

Third  Division,  First  Brigade 211 

Third  Division,  Second  Brigade 366 

Third  Division,  Third  Brigade 714 

Light  Artillery  Brigade 149 


Total 4,351 

THIRD  CORPS. 

First  Division,  First  Brigade *  740 

First  Division,  Second  Brigade 781 

First  Division,  Third  Brigade 490 

Second  Division,  First  Brigade 790 

Second  Division,  Second  Brigade 778 

Second  Division,  Third  Brigade 513 

Light  Artillery  Brigade 106 


Total 4,198 

FIFTH  CORPS. 

First  Division,  First  Brigade 125 

First  Division,  Second  Brigade 427 

First  Division,  Third  Brigade ,. 352 

Second  Division,  First  Brigade 382 

Second  Division,  Second  Brigade 447 

Second  Division,  Third  Brigade 200 

Third  Division,  First  Brigade 155 

Third  Division,  Second  Brigade 55 

Light  Artillery  Brigade 43 


Total 2,186 

SIXTH  CORPS. 

First  Division,  First  Brigade 11 

First  Division,  Second  Brigade 5 

First  Division,  Third  Brigade 2 

Second  Division,  First  Brigade 0 

Second  Division,  Second  Brigade 1 

Second  Division,  Third  Brigade 15 

Third  Division,  First  Brigade 74 

Third  Division,  Second  Brigade 69' 


114  THE  CANNONEER. 

Loss. 

Third  Division,  Third  Brigade 53 

Light  Artillery  Brigade 13 

Total 343 

ELEVENTH  CORPS. 

First  Division,  First  Brigade 527 

First  Division,  Second  Brigade 778 

Second  Division,  First  Brigade 597 

Second  Division,  Second  Brigade 348 

Third  Division,  First  Brigade 807 

'Third  Division,  Second  Brigade 669 

Light  Artillery  Brigade 69 

Total 3,795 

TWELFTH   CORPS. 

First  Division,  First  Brigade 80 

First  Division,  Second  Brigade 174 

First  Division,  Third  Brigade 279 

:Second  Division,  First  Brigade 139 

Second  Division,  Second  Brigade 98 

;Second  Division,  Third  Brigade 303 

Light  Artillery  Brigade 9 

Total 1,082 

ARTILLERY   RESERVE. 

First  Regular  Brigade 68 

First  Volunteer  Brigade 93 

Second  Volunteer  Brigade 8 

Third  Volunteer  Brigade 37 

Fourth  Volunteer  Brigade 36 

Total 343 

From  the  above  it  appears  that  one  brigade  in  the  Union  army  escaped 
loss  as  a  whole  —  the  First  Brigade ,  Second  Division,  Sixth  Corps.  The 
following  regiments  escaped  loss:  The  12th  and  15th  Vermont,  of  Stan- 
nard's  Brigade,  Third  Division,  First  Corps.  (They  were  detached,  guard 
ing  the  ammunition  train.)  First  New  Jersey,  5th  and  6th  Maine,  49th 
and  102d  Pennsylvania,  43d  and  77th  New  York,  5th  Wisconsin,  and  2d, 
3d.  5th  and  6th  Vermont,  all  of  the  Sixth  Corps.  (The  102d  Pennsylvania 
was  left  as  corps. baggage  guard  at  Westminster,  Md.) 

The  heaviest  loss  suffered  by  any  brigade  was  that  of  the  First  Brigade, 
First  Division,  First  Corps  (the  Iron  Brigade),  1,153,  and  the  heaviest 
loss  of  any  regiment  was  that  of  the  24th  Michigan,  of  that  brigade,  363. 
The  largest  loss  of  any  brigade  by  percentage  of  numbers  engaged  was  also 
that  of  the  Iron  Brigade,  but  of  regiments  it  was  that  of  the  1st  Minnesota, 
86  per  cent,  as  against  81  for  the  24th  Michigan. 

Other  extraordinary  regimental  losses  were  the  151st  Pennsylvania, 
337;  the  149th  Pennsylvania,  336,  and  the  157th  New  York,  307,  in  each 
case  over  70  per  cent,  of  those  engaged. 

Excessive  losses  of  light  batteries  were  the  following : 

Loss. 

Cushing's  (A)  4th  Regulars 39    (43) 

Stewart's  (B)  4th  Regulars 36    (40) 

Arnold's  (A)  1st  Rhode  Island 32    (36) 

Sheldon's  (B)  1st  New  York 36 


COXFEDEKATE   LOSSES.  115 

Loss. 
Brown's  (B)  1st  Rhode  Island 28 

Freeborn's  (E)  1st  Rhode  Island 30    (33) 

Thompson's  (C)  Pennsylvania  light 28 

Bigelow's  9th  Massachusetts 28    (31) 

The  figures  given  in  parentheses  represent  statements  of  loss  other 
than  those  of  the  "revised  returns,"  which  include  only  losses  of  men 
borne  on  the  battery  rolls. 

The  Confederate  loss  by  brigades  was  as  follows : 

FIRST  (LONGSTREET'S)  CORPS. 

M'LAWS'S  DIVISION.  Loss. 

Kershaw's  Brigade 630 

Semmes's  Brigade 430 

Barksdale's  Brigade 747 

Wofford's  Brigade 334 

2,141 

PICKETT'S  DIVISION. 

Garnett's  Brigade 941 

Armistead's  Brigade 1,191 

Kemper's  Brigade 731 

Corse's  Brigade 

2,863 

HOOD'S  DIVISION. 

Law's  Brigade 496 

Anderson's  Brigade 671 

Robertson's  Brigade 597 

Benning's  Brigade 497 

Artillery  Brigade 89 

2,350 

Total 7,354 

SECOND  (EWELL'S)  CORPS. 
EARLY'S  DIVISION. 

Hays's  Brigade 313 

Hoke's  Brigade 345 

Smith's  Brigade 142 

Gordon's  Brigade 380 

1,180 

JOHNSON'S  DIVISION. 

Steuart's  Brigade 682 

Nicholl's  Brigade 388 

Walker's  Brigade 330 

Jones's  Brigade 421 

1,821 

RODES'S  DIVISION. 

Daniel's  Brigade 916 

Iverson's  Brigade 820 

Doles's  Brigade 179 

Ramseur's  Brigade 177 

O'Neal's  Brigade . . . .  696 

Artillery  Brigade 123 

2,911 


Total 6,913 

THIRD   (HILL'S)   CORPS. 
ANDERSON'S  DIVISION. 

Wilcox's  Brigade 777 

Wright's  Brigade 668 

Perry's  Brigade 455 

Mahone's  Brigade 102 

Posey's  Brigade 83 

2,085 


116  THE  CANNONEER. 

HETH'S  DIVISION.  Loss. 

Pettigrew's  Brigade 1,105 

Archer's  Brigade 677 

Davis's  Brigade 897 

Brockenborough's  Brigade 148 

Cooke's  Brigade 0 

2,827 

FENDER'S  DIVISION. 

Perrin's  Brigade 577 

Scales's  Brigade 535 

Lane's  Brigade 389 

Thomas's  Brigade 152 

Artillery  Brigade 84 

1,737 


Total 6,649 

Reserve  Artillery,  A.  N.  V 80 

The  heaviest  losses  by  brigades  were  those  of  Armistead's,  1,191  (also 
the  largest  by  percentage),  and  of  Pettigrew's,  1,105.  The  heaviest  regi 
mental  loss  was  that  of  the  26th  North  Carolina,  Pettigrew's  Brigade, 
Heth's  Division,  588,  all  killed  or  wounded,  none  being  captured.  This 
was  the  greatest  loss  suffered  by  any  regiment  of  either  army  at  Gettys 
burg  in  numbers,  though  the  percentage  was  83,  or  less  than  that  of  the 
1st  Minnesota.  One  company  of  the  26th  North  Carolina  was  totally  wiped 
out  on  the  field  of  battle,  not  one  man  in  it  afterward  reporting  for  duty ! 

The  Union  army  had  52  infantry  brigades,  of  which  48  were  more  or 
less  engaged,  whose  average  strength  was  1,420  men  and  their  average  loss 
420.  The  Confederate  army  had  39  brigades,  whose  average  strength  was 
1,540  and  their  average  loss  518. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  one  whole  brigade  and  14  regiments  of 
the  Union  army  escaped  loss.  No  brigade  or  regiment  of  the  Confederate 
army  escaped  wholly.  The  smallest  regimental  loss  was  that  of  the  12th 
Mississippi,  of  Posey's  Brigade,  seven  wounded.  The  heaviest  loss  of  any 
Confederate  battery  was  Carpenter's  (Alleghany)  Battery,  28. 

The  official  grand  total  of  losses  at  Gettysburg  is  as  follows : 

UNION.  Loss. 

Killed 3,155 

Wounded 14,529 

Captured  and  missing 5,365 

Total 23,049 

CONFEDERATE. 

Killed i . .    2,592 

Wounded 12,700 

Captured  and  missing 5,150 

Total 20,442    (21,247) 

The  figures  in  parenthesis  refer  to  statements  on  other  authority  than 
that  of  the  "revised  returns."  In  almost  every  case  the  returns  of  the 
Confederate  brigade  commanders  differ  slightly  from  those  of  their  Medical 
Department. 

There  has  been  much  comment  and  controversy  about  what  is  usually 
termed  "Meade's  failure  to  make  a  vigorous  counter  attack  after  repul 
sing  Pickett."  But  there  was  no  such  discussion  among  the  hungry. 


EXHAUSTION  OF  THE  TROOPS.  117 

exhausted,  battered  and  mangled  men  whose  strong  arms  and  stout  hearts 
had  won  the  fight.  Any  person  who  says  that  they  were  not  for  the  time 
being  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  victory  as  it  stood  at  sundown  on  July 
3  is  either  ignorant  of  their  state  of  mind  or  intent  on  misrepresenting 
them  for  purposes  of  his  own. 

There  was  no  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  enlisted  men  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  to  force  things  after  Pickett's  repulse.  This  was  not  be 
cause  of  any  lack  of  nerve,  but  simply  because  of  that  most  imperative  of 
all  reasons  for  inaction  —  utter  physical  exhaustion.  Critics,  writing  at 
great  distances  from  the  scene  of  battle  or  a  long  time  after  it,  are  apt  to 
forget  that  soldiers  have  legs  that  get  tired,  backs  that  ache,  stomachs  that 
get  famished  and  heads  that  get  sleepy,  the  same  as  other  men,  and  that 
the  capacity  of  an  army  is  limited  by  the  average  physical  endurance  of 
the  individual  soldiers  composing  it. 

After  Pickett's  Division  recoiled  not  more  than  three  hours  of  clear 
daylight  remained.  The  troops  immediately  available  for  a  counter  attack 
were  those  of  the  Sixth  Corps.  They  had  not  fought  much  in  the  battles 
of  the  second  or  third  days,  and  they  had  had  one  night  of  rest  —  such  as 
it  was— after  their  terrific  forced  march  of  nearly  40  miles  to  reach  the 
field.  They  were  as  good  troops  as  the  world  ever  saw,  but  were  ex 
hausted,  and  besides,  they  formed  the  last  reserve  of  the  army. 

As  for  the  other  corps,  ours  (the  First)  had  been  utterly  stove  to  pieces 
the  first  day,  and  could  not  at  that  time  muster  much  more  than  4,000 
muskets,  though  what  was  left  was  in  good  heart  as  far  as  "  being  will 
ing"  was  concerned,  but  completely  worn  out  physically.  The  Third  and 
Fifth  Corps  were  in  similar  condition  from  the  second  day's  battle.  The 
Second  and  Twelfth  had  borne  the  brunt  of  the  third  day,  the  latter  in 
defending  Culp's  Hill  during  the  forenoon,  and  the  former  in  repulsing 
Pickett  in  the  afternoon  ;  so  that  there  was  not  much  left  of  them  —  at 
least  they  were  not  in  condition  for  a  vigorous  offensive  movement.  The 
Eleventh  Corps  had  been  badly  hammered  on  the  first  and  second  days. 

The  strength  of  the  army  on  July  4  and  5  after  the  close  of  the  battle 
was  as  follows,  as  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained  : 

First  Corps 4,300  muskets. 

Second  Corps 7,600  muskets. 

Third  Corps 6,700  muskets. 

Fifth  Corps 7,500  muskets. 

Sixth  Corps 14,000  muskets. 

Eleventh  Corps 5,400  muskets. 

Twelfth  Corps 7,500  muskets. 

Reserve  Artillery 2,000  men. 

Total 55,000 

That  is  to  say,  55,000  effective,  besides  the  cavalry. 

The  Rebel  army  had,  according  to  the  most  reliable  statistics,  not  less 

than  48,000  muskets  effective  on  July  4. 

Assuming  that  the  cavalry  commands  offset  each  other,  it  will  be  seen 

that  the  effective  of  infantry  and  artillery  of  the  two  armies  was  much 


118  THE  CAXXOXEEK. 

nearer  equal  after  the  battle  than  before,  in  consequence  partly  of  our 
greater  losses  and  partly  because  we  had  to  leave  men  behind  to  take  care 
of  both  our  own  wounded  and  the  Rebel  wounded  left  in  our  hands,  while 
the  enemy  suffered  no  corresponding  diminution  of  force  on  this  account. 

In  short,  all  the  troops  of  the  different  corps  were  either  butchered  up 
like  the  First,  Second,  Third,  Fifth,  Eleventh  and  Twelfth,  or  exhausted 
by  three  days  and  two  nights  of  constant  fighting,  or  completely  tired  out 
by  a  forced  march  like  the  Sixth.  The  statistics  show  that  over  3,000 
had  been  killed  and  nearly  20,000  wounded  during  the  three  days.  The 
Sixth  Corps  had  lost  at  least  2,000  men  from  total  exhaustion  in  their 
frightful  forced  march  from  Westminster.  There  never  was  an  army  on 
earth  in  which  the  losses  in  such  a  battle  from  sickness,  straggling  or 
necessary  details  to  take  care  of  the  wounded  would  not  be  equal  to  one- 
fourth  of  the  gun-shot  casualties ;  so,  in  the  absence  of  accurate  statistics, 
it  will  be  within  the  mark  to  say  that  Meade  could  not  possibly  have 
brought  more  than  45,000  actual  muskets  to  bear  in  a  grand  charge  on 
Lee's  lines  at  any  time  between  5  o'clock  p.  m.  July  3  and  dark  July  4, 
and  most  of  these  would  have  been  in  the  hands  of  tired,  hungry,  lame 
and  footsore  men  who,  however  brave  they  may  have  been,  had  had  all 
the  dash  and  aggressiveness  taken  out  of  them  by  60  hours  of  solid  battle 
or  by  40  miles  of  forced  march  !  It  stands  to  reason  that  a  ' '  grand  assault ' ' 
by  meii  in  that  condition  must  have  lacked  the  physical  momentum  neces 
sary  for  success  in  such  operations.  As  for  our  artillery,  it  had  also  been 
pretty  badly  smashed  up,  but  as  a  whole  it  was  in  better  shape  than  the 
infantry.  It  could  not  cut  much  figure  in  an  attack  on. Lee's  line  on 
Seminary  Ridge,  because,  in  order  to  fire  over  the  heads  of  our  infantry 
moving  to  the  attack,  we  must  have  remained  on  the  highest  part  of  Ceme 
tery  Ridge,  and  this  wrould  have  been  out  of  range  of  all  the  12-pound  Na 
poleons  and  very  long  range  for  the  three-inch  and  Parrott  rifles.  Besides, 
we  were  all  nearly  out  of  ammunition,  particularly  the  rifle  batteries,  as 
they  had  been  chiefly  concerned  in  the  grand  cannonade  of  the  third  day. 

Another  thing  to  be  considered  is  that  the  best  troops  in  the  army  had 
been  the  wrorst  cut  up,  wrhile  those  least  hurt  were  the  poorest,  excepting, 
of  course,  the  Sixth  Corps,  which  had  not  been  engaged  to  speak  of.  If 
we  take  the  Iron  Brigade  as  a  sample  of  the  ' '  best  troops, ' '  it  had  certainly 
been  the  worst  mauled,  because  of  its  regiments  the  2d  Wisconsin  could 
not  muster  more  than  140  men,  the  6th  not  more  than  125  or  130,  the  7th 
less  than  200,  the  19th  Indiana  hardly  100,  while  the  24th  Michigan  had 
pretty  much  ceased  to  exist.  At  all  events,  the  brigade  could  not  have 
put  600  muskets  in  line  during  the  evening  of  July  3. 

So  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  say,  without  reference  to  any  of  the  contro 
versies  that  have  taken  place  since,  and  speaking  from  the  standpoint  of 
an  enlisted  man,  that  Meade  could  not  have  counted  on  anything  but  the 
Sixth  Corps  for  an  immediate  counter  attack  or  pursuit  of  Pickett's  routed 
division.  The  Sixth  Corps  could  probably  have  mustered  13,500  muskets 
that  moment.  They  were  as  good  troops  as  there  was  in  the  world,  but  in 


AFTER  THE  BATTLE.  119 

the  then  condition  of  the  Second,  Third  and  Fifth  Corps  troops,  who  were 
nearest  them,  they  could  hope  for  little  support,  and  if  they  had  been  re 
pulsed  severely  the  last  reserve  of  the  army  would  have  been  destroyed. 
It  was  certain  that  Lee  had  at  least  five  divisions  on  Seminary  Ridge 
within  assembling  distance  of  any  point  that  the  Sixth  Corps  could  have 
attacked  in  following  Pickett.  He  would  have  had  Hood  and  McLaws  on 
his  right,  and  Hill's  three  divisions  between  that  point  and  the  town ; 
while  Rodes,  Early  and  Edward  Johnson  would  have  prevented  any  move 
ment  of  our  troops  on  the  north  brow  of  Cemetery  Hill  to  assist  in  attack. 

On  our  part  of  the  line  in  front  of  the  town  we  all  expected  that 
Pickett 's  attack  would  be  followed  by  a  general  assault  on  the  positions 
at  and  about  the  Cemetery  by  Swell's  entire  corps,  which  was  in  the  town 
and  in  the  fields  east  of  it,  and  we  could  not  understand  why  they  did  not 
assault  in  conjunction  with  Pickett's  attack.  So  strong  was  the  conviction 
that  they  would  a&sault  our  position  that  our  batteries  on  that  front — our  s, 
Reynolds's  and  Stevens's — had  got  out  several  rounds  of  canister  and  laid 
them  on  the  ground,  convenient  for  our  Nos.  2,  as  was  usual  in  cases  of 
expected  attack  by  infantry.  So,  under  all  the  circumstances,  it  is  proper 
to  say  that  the  men  who  are  least  dissatisfied  with  Meade's  failure  to 
make  a  counter  attack  on  the  third  day  are  those  who  had  done  the  most 
fighting.  And  vice  versa. 

About  10  in  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  July  a  squad  was  told  off  to  go- 
with  a  detail  to  draw  rations  of  food  and  forage.  This  gave  us  another  op 
portunity  to  witness  the  scenes  in  the  rear  of  the  army,  but,  although  they 
were  still  very  horrible,  they  were  nothing  to  compare  with  that  dreadful 
night  of  the  second  day,  when  we  went  after  the  ammunition.  We  par 
ticularly  noticed  on  this  trip  large  numbers  of  the  Rebel  wounded,  who  had 
been  brought  in  during  the  morning  and  were  still  coming  in  from  the 
ground  over  which  Pickett's  Division  had  charged,  and  which  was  literally 
covered  with  them,  particularly  after  they  began  to  ascend  the  slope  of  our 
ridge.  The  appearance  of  these  men  was  even  more  wretched  than  that  of 
our  own  wxmnded  men,  they  being  in  almost  every  case  ragged  and  dirty 
in  the  extreme,  while  many  of  them  were  gant  and  emaciated  as  if  from 
want  of  proper  food  ;  but,  as  a  rule,  they  bore  their  misery  with  somewhat 
greater  fortitude  than  many  of  our  own  men  did. 

At  Gen.  Hunt's  headquarters  we  found  Col.  Wainwright,  who  in 
formed  Stewart  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  get  any  new  material  for  the 
present,  but  that  he  would  have  the  Battery  temporarily  relieved  by  another 
from  the  reserve  if  necessary.  So  we  went  back  to  our  position.  Although 
it  was  the  Fourth  of  July,  the  thought  of  the  day  scarcely  entered  our 
minds.  We  all  felt  that  we  had  burned  powder  enough  in  the  last  three 
days  to  make  about  50  first-class  Fourths,  and  were  willing  to  let  it  go  at 
that.  The  remainder  of  the  day  was  spent  in  cooking  rations,  grooming 
the  horses  (who  had  been  sadly  neglected  since  we  left  Marsh  Creek), 
cleaning  the  guns,  rearranging  the  disordered  equipment,  and,  in  general, 
getting  ready  to  march,  which  we  all  expected  to  do  the  next  day. 


120  THE  CANNONEER. 

During  the  afternoon  our  infantry  took  possession  of  Gettysburg  town, 
which  they  found  full  of  the  First  and  Eleventh  Corps  wounded  from  the 
first  day's  battle,  together  with  many  of  the  Eebels  who  were  too  badly 
hurt  to  be  removed.  Some  of  our  Surgeons  had  remained  with  our  wounded 
in  the  town  during  its  occupation  by  the  enemy,  of  whose  treatment  of 
them  they  said  they  had  no  complaint  to  make.  The  Rebels  had  not 
plundered  the  town  as  much  as  we  supposed  they  would,  but  they  had 
stripped  it  of  everything  eatable,  so  that  the  inhabitants  had  to  draw  rations 
at  first  from  the  commissary.  The  townspeople  told  us  that  there  had  not 
been  many  Rebel  troops  in  the  village  at  any  time,  except  enough  for  a 
general  guard  and  to  take  care  of  the  wounded  that  were  brought  in. 
There  was  no  difference  in  the  treatment  of  the  wounded  by  either  side  : 
in  fact,  discrimination  would  have  been  almost  impossible,  as  they  were  all 
huddled  together  in  the  same  houses,  frequently  in  the  same  rooms,  and 
attended  by  the  same  Surgeons,  our  own  and  the  Rebel  Surgeons  having 
worked  together  as  if  belonging  to  the  same  army.  Several  of  the  Rebel 
Surgeons  were  still  there  after  their  army  had  left. 

The  scenes  in  the  fields  west  and  north  of  the  town  where  the  first 
day's  battle  had  been  fought  were  horrible  beyond  description.  The 
Rebels  had  buried  most  of  their  own  dead  while  they  occupied  the  ground 
during  the  second  and  third  days,  and  probably  some  of  ours  also.  But  a 
great  many  of  our  dead  were  left  where  they  fell,  and  three  days  of  hot 
July  weather  had  made  hideous  sights  of  their  corpses.  Without  excep 
tion,  they  were  swollen  to  twice  their  natural  size  ;  those  who  had  not 
been  stripped  by  the  Rebels  had  burst  their  clothes  open  ;  their  skins  were 
all  turned  black  or  dark  blue,  or  spotted  with  livid  spots;  their  swollen 
tongues  protruded  from  their  mouths,  and  the  stench  from  them  was  almost 
overpowering.  We  found  one  who  must  have  been  killed  at  the  first 
skirmish  line  of  the  Iron  Brigade  in  the  morning,  as  he  was  close  to  the 
bank  of  the  creek,  in  the  most  advanced  position  occupied  by  our  infantry. 
The  Rebels  had  taken  most  of  the  clothing  oif  his  body,  but  left  a  letter 
by  him  which  they  had  taken  out  of  his  pocket.  They  had  secured  the 
letter  by  laying  a  small  stone  on  it,  and  it  enabled  us  to  identify  him 
surely.  The  letter  was  from  some  relative  in  Waukesha,  Wis. ,  and  from 
its  date  must  have  been  received  in  the  last  mail  before  the  battle.  It 
told,  among  other  things,  of  the  news  that  had  been  received  at  the  Wis 
consin  home  of  another  relative  killed  in  Grant's  operations  prior  to  the 
siege  of  Vicksburg.  Truly,  we  thought,  this  must  be  an  afflicted  family. 
The  name  on  the  envelope  was  "  C.  A.  Warren,  Co.  E,  7th  Wis."  We  then 
passed  on  and  spent  some  time  looking  over  the  position  first  occupied  by 
the  Rebels,  after  which,  having  already  overstayed  our  time,  we  started 
back  for  the  Battery.  From  Willoughby's  Creek  to  the  town  the  Cashtown 
Road  and  the  fields  on  both  sides  of  it  were  full  of  the  wreck  of  the  fight, 
broken  muskets,  old  knapsacks,  haversacks  and  canteens,  belts,  broken  frag 
ments  of  gun-limbers  and  caissons,  dead  men,  dead  horses,  etc.  In  our 
own  position  at  the  Railroad  Cut,  near  the  Thompson  House,  and  scattered 


SCENES  ON  THE  FIELD.  121 

along  the  road,  we  found  the  wreckage  of  our  caissons  and  teams.  We 
did  not  find  the  bodies  of  our  dead  —  Sprague,  Maffitt  and  others — be 
cause,  being  near  the  town,  they  had  been  picked  up  earlier  in  the  day. 

Among  the  "debris  of  the  fight"  near  the  Cashtown  Road  was  one 
very  welcome  object.  We  had  gone  out  as  far  as  the  mineral  spring,  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  creek,  following  the  route  of  the  7th  Wisconsin,  and  as 
we  were  returning  across  the  field  to  the  pike  I  found  a  new  canteen  lying 
on  the  ground,  almost  hid  by  the  rails  of  the  fence,  which  had  been  thrown 
down.  Much  to  our  joy  the  contents  proved  to  be  a  fine  article  of  rye 
whisky  —  not  commissary,  but  real  Old  Monongahela.  Talk  about  won 
derful  escapes  at  Gettysburg !  But  the  most  wonderful  of  all  was  the 
escape  of  that  new  canteen  full  of  fine  old  whisky,  to  lie  there  as  it  had 
for  four  days  on  ground  occupied  by  the  Rebel  army  !  We  also  found  a 
small  but  very  fine  meerschaum  pipe ,  which  was  in  the  pocket  of  a  blouse 
lying  on  the  ground  south  of  the  pike,  about  40  rods  from  our  position, 
with  a  Lieutenant's  bars  on  the  collar  and  a  bullet  hole  and  blood  stains 
in  the  left  shoulder.  The  blouse  evidently  had  been  stripped  off  to  enable 
them  to  get  at  the  wound,  and  being  thrown  aside  was  not  thought  of 
again.  Another  abandoned  coat  had  a  diary  in  the  pocket.  This,  how 
ever,  was  a  gray  blouse,  and  according  to  the  diary  its  owner  belonged  to 
one  of  the  North  Carolina  regiments  in  Heth's  Division.  There  were  no 
evidences  of  wounds  on  this  blouse,  but  its  owner  must  have  been  hit,  as 
he  would  hardly  have  abandoned  his  diary  under  other  circumstances. 
The  handwriting  showed  that  he  was  well  educated,  and  his  diary,  which 
dated  from  Jan.  1,  1863,  was  interesting. 

The  most  pathetic  sight  of  all  was  a  poor  horse,  both  of  whose  forelegs 
had  been  shot  off  at  the  knee  in  the  first  day's  battle.  He  had  lain  there 
nearly  four  days  and  was  still  alive,  but  of  course  almost  famished.  His 
dim  eyes  seemed  to  brighten  as  we  approached  him,  and  he  made  a  spas 
modic  effort  to  rise,  but  sank  back  with  a  groan  that  was  almost  human. 
As  he  was  past  help,  one  of  us  mercifully  ended  his  sufferings  with  a 
revolver. 

The  5th  and  6th  of  July  were  occupied  by  the  army  in  burying  its 
dead,  taking  care  of  its  wounded,  drawing  rations  and  forage,  renewing 
equipment  as  far  as  possible  from  the  stores  at  hand  —  in  a  word,  repair 
ing  damages  generally.  The  only  part  of  the  army  that  left  its  position 
on  the  5th  of  July  to  pursue  the  enemy  was  the  Sixth  Corps,  which  had  not 
been  engaged  in  any  of  the  three  days,  except  Bartlett's  and  Shaler's  Bri 
gades,  slightly.  This  corps  started  off  about  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
the  5th,  and  was  followed  later  in  the  day  by  some  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  and 
possibly  a  division  of  the  Twelfth,  and  the  First  Corps  followed  on  the  6th. 
They  went  as  far  as  the  South  Gap,  where  they  found  a  Rebel  rear  guard  in 
force,  and  they  did  not  attack.  The  Second,  Third  and  Eleventh  Corps 
remained  in  their  old  positions  on  the  field  till  the  fourth  day  after  the 
battle,  when  they  started  on  the  march  back  to  the  Potomac.  We  all  went 
first  to  Enimittsburg,  where  some  of  the  infantry  and  all  the  cavalry  took 


122  THE  CANNONEER. 

the  Branch  Road  to  Mechanicstown,  and  thence  over  through  Cavetown 
Gap  to  Hagerstown  ;  while  the  rest  of  the  infantry  kept  on  down  the  main 
road  to  Frederick,  and  thence  by  the  Middletown  Road  and  Turner's  Gap 
to  the  old  Antietam  battlefield,  wrhere  Lee's  army  was  again  found  in 
position.  It  was  said  by  the  men  who  had  been  in  that  battle  that  the 
Rebels  occupied  substantially  their  old  position,  though  more  extended  on 
the  left  flank.  Our  own  line  occupied  substantially  the  road  from  Boons- 
boro  to  Funkstown,  the  First  Corps  being  in  front  of  the  last-named  place. 
Here  we  all  expected  to  fight  the  battle  of  Antietam  over  again.  But  no 
demonstration  was  made  on  either  side  for  two  days,  and  on  the  morning 
of  the  third  day  it  was  found  that  Lee's  army  had  decamped  during  the 
night  and  was  safe  on  the  south  side  of  the  Potomac. 

There  was  some  difference  of  opinion  among  the  men  about  the  man 
ner  in  which  Gen.  Meade  pursued  Lee.  Some  of  them  maintained  that 
the  pursuit  should  have  begun  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  July  by  the 
whole  army,  and  should  have  been  vigorously  pushed  through  the  gaps 
and  on  the  same  roads  that  Lee  took  in  his  retreat,  instead  of  moving 
parallel  with  him,  as  we  did,  with  a  big  mountain  between  us.  Others 
declared  that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  suffered  such  enormous  losses. 
— at  that  time  estimated  as  high  as  28,000  or  30,000  men,  and  afterward 
officially  given  at  23,049 — while  many  more  had  remained  behind  on  de 
tached  duty  with  the  wounded  and  the  trains,  etc.,  that  it  was  not  in 
condition  to  attack  even  an  enemy  equally  enfeebled.  During  the  march 
from  Gettysburg  to  Antietam  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  been  rein 
forced  by  a  division  or  more  at  Frederick,  and  numerous  recruits  and  con 
valescents  had  returned  to  the  old  regiments.  But  it  was  reported  in  our 
camp  that  Lee  had  also  been  largely  reinforced,  some  rumors  being  that 
Beauregard  had  come  up  from  the  South  with  a  corps  of  25,000,  and  others 
that  several  divisions  had  been  sent  East  from  Bragg's  army  in  Tennessee. 

So,  on  the  whole,  we  believed  that  the  Rebel  army  was  at  least  equal 
to  us  in  numbers,  and  as  we  had  had  our  hands  full  to  defend  a  strong 
position  against  them  a  few  days  before,  most  of  the  troops  thought  it 
would  be  folly  for  us  to  attack  them  now  in  a  still  stronger  one.  How 
ever,  there  was  not. much  enthusiasm  about  Meade.  The  men  thought  he 
was  a  careful  commander,  and  that  if  he  made  any  blunders  they  would 
be  on  the  safe  side.  And  they  were  particularly  pleased  with  the  prompt 
ness  with  which  he  had  the  trains  brought  up  to  supply  them  with  full 
rations  and  new  clothing,  of  which  last  they  were  sadly  in  need,  the  con 
tinuous  marching,  bivouacking  and  fighting  from  the  1st  of  May  to  the 
middle  of  July  having  made  carpet-rags  of  almost  every  uniform  in  the 
army.  It  was  very  acceptable  to  us  to  get  new  clothes.  There  was  nothing 
in  which  we  took  more  pride  than  in  being  the  best-dressed  battery  in  the 
army.  In  this,  of  course,  we  had  a  great  advantage  over  the  infantry  and 
cavalry  even,  as  we  could  always  carry  our  baggage  on  the  caissons,  battery 
wagon,  etc.  But  at  Gettysburg  so  many  of  our  caissons  were  destroyed, 
together  with  our  knapsacks  that  were  strapped  on  them,  that  most  of  us 


AT  A  STANDSTILL.  123 

had  lost  our  "  swell  clothes."  So,  as  we  all  took  quite  as  much  pride  in 
' '  styling  up  ' '  as  Stewart  did  in  seeing  us  well  dressed,  it  was  very  grati 
fying  to  get  this  new  supply  of  clothing. 

After  Lee  had  crossed  the  Potomac  we  moved  down  to  that  river  and 
went  into  camp  on  its  north  bank,  al>ove  Shepherdstown.  There  was  much 
impatience  in  the  North  at  this  app'arent  inaction,  and  the  newspapers 
that  now  began  to  find  their  way  into  camp  were  full  of  criticism  and  abuse 
of  Meade  because  he  did  not  follow  Lee.  This  abuse  by  the  "newspaper 
Generals"  did  more  to  popularize  Meade  with  the  army  than  anything 
else  could  have  done.  The  soldiers,  without  exception,  always  bitterly 
and  contemptuously  resented  the  "  On  to  Richmond"  shrieking  of  pen- 
drivers  who,  from  the  safe  distance  of  their  editorial  sanctums,  incessantly 
and  vehemently  demanded  the  instant  wiping  out  of  Lee's  army,  capture 
of  Richmond  and  execution  of  Jeff  Davis,  without  the  least  reflection  as  to 
what  these  performances  involved,  and,  it  is  needless  to  say,  without  the 
slightest  desire  to  join  the  procession  and  help  do  it. 

Of  course  we  now  know  that  when  Lee  turned  and  faced  us  on  the 
banks  of  the  Antietam  he  had  only  about  40, 000  muskets,  as  shown  by  his 
official  reports  to  the  Rebel  War  Department,  now  in  possession  of  the 
Government ;  while,  with  the  reinforcements  that  had  joined  us  at  Fred 
erick  and  the  recruits  and  convalescents  constantly  coming  into  the  old 
regiments,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had,  say,  60,000  muskets  confronting 
Lee  the  day  before  he  recrossed  the  Potomac.  And  we  also  know  that  the 
reports  we  had  of  large  reinforcements  under  Beauregard,  etc.,  above  men 
tioned,  were  canards.  Indeed,  Confederate  officers  have  told  me  since  the 
war  that  they  sent  spies  in  the  guise  of  deserters  to  give  such  information 
to  our  commanders  in  order  to  deter  them  from  an  attack,  as  Lee  did  not 
wrant  to  fight  another  battle  north  of  the  Potomac.  But  Lee's  official  re 
ports  were  not  accessible  to  us  then,  and  so  we  believed  in  the  "large 
reinforcement"  stories.  Moreover,  we  all  knew  then  that  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  under  Meade  was  much  weaker  than  it  had  been  the  Fall 
previous  under  McClellan,  and,  believing  that  Lee's  army  was  larger  now 
than  then,  we  reasoned  that  if  McClellan  was  unable  to  rout  him  from  the 
strong  lines  of  the  Antietam  we  would  not  have  much  show  of  doing  it. 
So,  summing  up  from  the  standpoint  of  a  man  in  the  ranks,  it  is  proper  to 
say  that  had  Meade  ordered  an  assault  on  either  of  the  two  days  that  we 
were  confronting  Lee's  army  there,  the  troops  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
would  have  obeyed  sullenly,  as  they  had  so  often  done  before,  hopeless  of 
success  and  convinced  that  they  were  to  be  murdered  once  more  to  satisfy 
screaming  editors  in  the  North  and  blatant  politicians  at  Washington. 
Meade  did  exactly  right.  His  caution  saved  many  a  gallant  life  that  a 
rasher  commander  would  have  wasted,  and  the  final  result  was  the  same. 
Without  doubt,  if  we  had  assaulted  the  Rebels  along  the  Antietam  on  the 
12th  or  13th  of  July,  we  would  have  suffered  a  bloody  repulse,  which,  so 
soon  after  the  carnage  of  Gettysburg,  we  were  in  no  mood  to  endure. 

After  Lee  crossed  the  Potomac  we  left  our  position  at  Funkstown  and 


124  THE  CAXXONEER. 

moved  over  to  the  river,  near  Williamapoit.  This  march  took  us  over 
part  of  the  battleground  of  Antietam,  our  own  particular  route  bringing 
us  within  a  short  distance  of  the  position  of  the  Battery  on  the  Sharpsburg 
Pike,  in  front  of  the  Miller  House,  where  it  had  been  so  dreadfully  butch 
ered  up.  As  there  was  a  halt  here  during  the  middle  of  the  day,  some  of 
the  men  went  to  look  over  the  ground  they  had  fought  on  the  Fall  before. 
There  were  many  objects  of  melancholy  interest  scattered  over  that  field. 
Some  of  us  went  down  the  pike  as  far  as  the  Dunker  Church,  and  walked 
part  of  the  way  through  the  "Sunken  Road."  Rusting  barrels  of  broken 
muskets,  half  buried  in  the  plowed  ground,  fragments  of  haversacks, 
knapsacks,  canteens,  belts,  cartridge-boxes,  rotting  pieces  of  clothing  and 
all  that  sort  of  thing  were  scattered  plentifully  around.  Here  and  there 
could  be  seen  ghastly  white  arm,  leg,  rib  and  skull  bones  of  men  ex 
humed  from  their  shallow  graves  by  pigs  or  vultures,  or  washed  out  by 
the  rain.  Near  the  upper  end  of  the  Sunken  Road  was  found  a  jawbone 
half  buried  in  the  dirt.  Some  of  the  teeth  in  it  had  been  filled  with  gold, 
•which  had  been  loosened  by  the  action  of  frost  on  the  teeth,  and  one  or 
two  of  these  little  "nuggets"  were  taken  from  their  ghastly  "mine"  and 
•carried  away  as  souvenirs ! 

Speaking  of  going  over  old  battlefields,  our  veterans  had  to  have  their 
fun,  and  sometimes  it  was  pretty  grim.  When  we  were  moving  up  from 
Fredericksburg  to  go  to  Gettysburg  we  camped  about  June  21  or  22  near 
the  line  of  Pope's  retreat  from  Groveton.  Some  of  the  boys  who  had  fought 
there  went  over  to  look  at  the  ground.  They  found  an  old  skull  on  the 
field,  and  when  they  got  back,  finding  me  asleep  on  the  ground  under  a 
tree,  they  carefully  arranged  the  skull  close  to  my  face.  Then  they  got 
a  rush  or  twig  and  tickled  my  ear.  The  thing  startled  me  a  little,  but  not 
so  much  as  they  expected,  because,  not  to  l>e  outdone  in  sang  froid,  I  raised 
up  on  on  my  elbow,  surveyed  the  skull  a  moment,  and  remarked  quietly, 
"Oh,  I  thought  that  we  had  got  a  new  recruit  from  the  19th  Indiana  !  " 
As  the  authors  of  this  joke  were  19th  Indiana  men,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
laugh  was  on  them.  The  old  fellows  were  up  to  all  sorts  of  ghastly  jokes 
on  the  recruits. 

After  leaving  the  field  of  Antietam  we  marched  over  to  the  bank  of 
the  Potomac  and  camped  there,  just  below  Williamsport.  The  army  was 
tired,  hungry,  footsore,  ragged,  poverty-stricken  and  savage.  Between 
Gettysburg  and  the  Potomac,  while  we  were  following  up  a  victory,  there 
had  been  10  times  more  straggling,  desertion  and  "coffee-boiling"  than 
ever  had  been  known.  This  was  because  the  people  up  North  were  spend 
ing  their  time  firing  hundred-gun  salutes  and  holding  thanksgiving  prayer 
meetings  over  Gettysburg,  while  the  troops  Avho  had  won  it  were  sweltering 
under  a  July  sun,  in  rags  and  on  half  rations,  chasing  the  Rebels  back  into 
Virginia !  And,  as  if  to  add  insult  to  injury,  every  stay-at-home  editor 
from  Maine  to  Minnesota  was  howling  in  his  newspaper  because  we  had 
'"let  Lee  get  away  ! " 

Let  Lee  get  away,  forsooth  !     We  were  all  devilish  glad  to  see  the  last 


BACK  TO  "OLE  VIRGINNY."  125 

of  his  infernal  infantry  disappear  behind  the  Shenandoah  hills.  And  we 
were  quite  content  to  get  into  a  decent  camp,  out  of  rifle  range  of  the 
enemy,  where  we  could  get  a  chance  to  wash  our  clothes  and  take  a  swim 
ming  bath,  and  get  three  days  of  consecutive  rest  for  the  first  time  since 
Chancellorsville ! 

To  return  to  our  narrative:  After  about  a  week  or  10  days  in  camp  on 
the  banks  of  the  Potomac  we  crossed  at  Berlin  and  moved  slowly  south 
ward  by  way  of  Lovettsville,  Wheatland  and  Circleville  to  Middleburg,  at 
the  west  end  of  Aldie  Gap,  where  we  camped  for  several  days.  No  event 
of  importance  occurred  here,  except  some  additional  new  equipment  was 
distributed  to  the  batteries  of  the  Artillery  Brigade,  and  a  few  recruits 
were  received  in  our  Battery  —  not  more  than  eight,  I  think,  and  several 
men  who  were  hit  in  previous  battles,  even  some  at  Gettysburg,  returned 
to  duty  from  the  hospital.  This  brought  our  strength  up  to  about  75  or  80 
present  for  duty,  and  having  had  our  damaged  gun  carriages  repaired  and 
getting  new  caissons,  together  with  a  few  horses,  we  resumed  business  as  a 
six-gun  battery,  having  since  Gettysburg  been  able  to  handle  only  four. 
However,  our  complement  was  still  very  short,  though  the  excellent  quality 
of  our  veterans  made  this  difficulty  less  serious  than  it  would  be  under 
ordinary  circumstances. 

In  this  camp  three  men,  Bill  Earle,  McDermott  and  Ned  Mackey,  all 
Wisconsin  volunteers,  deserted.  It  was  said  that  Bill  joined  Mosby's 
command.  Mackey  was  never  again  heard  from,  nor  was  McDermott.  Bill 
had  been  a  pretty  fair  soldier,  but  he  was  rattle-brained,  and  for  sometime 
he  and  Stewart  had  not  got  along  well  together.  Desertion  from  the  Bat 
tery  had  been  rare,  and  there  was  much  pride  on  the  score  of  record,  but 
apart  from  that  nobody  mourned  these  worthies.  Stewart,  who  had  come 
near  shooting  one  of  them  one  day  for  misconduct  in  the  face  of  the  enemy, 
was  apparently  glad  to  get  rid  of  them.  In  the  few  cases  of  desertion  we 
had  he  was  always  glad  to  let  them  get  away,  because  he  had  a  horror  of 
having  any  man  in  the  Battery  executed. 

It  should  be  stated  that  there  were  two  John  McDermotts  in  the  Bat 
tery.  One  was  from  the  2d  Wisconsin  and  the  other  from  the  24th  Michi 
gan.  It  was  Wisconsin  John  who  deserted.  Michigan  John  was  a  brave 
and  faithful  soldier  and  there  was  no  better  record  than  his.  He  was 
among  the  wounded  at  Gettysburg,  and  afterward  returned  to  his  regi 
ment  or  probably  was  discharged  on  account  of  disability.  The  two  men 
were  not  alike  in  anything  but  name.  The  incidents  of  this  camp  most 
vividly  impressed  upon  the  memory  of  the  writer  were  trivial,  though  per 
haps  amusing.  One  day  the  mail  brought  a  letter  from  father  inclosing  a 
crisp  $20  greenback.  At  this  time  funds  were  scarce  among  the  enlisted 
men,  over  four  months'  pay  being  then  due  them,  so  this  $20  was  a  Godsend 
to  our  little  gun  squad.  The  old  fellows  had  long  ago  "tumbled  to"  my 
pet  vanity  —  which  was  to  be  praised  for  my  behavior  in  action.  Thus, 
when  they  saw  that  crisp  greenback  pulled  out  of  the  envelope,  with  many 
a  furtive  wink  and  blink  among  themselves,  they  deftly  turned  the  con- 


126  THE    CANNONEER. 

versation  in  that  direction.  After  skirmishing  around  on  general  manuvers 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing  for  a  while,  Griff  insinuatingly  remarked  to 
another  veteran : 

"By  the  way,  Mac,  did  you  notice  the  Cub  there  at  the  Eailroad  Cut 
when  things  was  hottest?  " 

' '  Notice  him  !  I  should  say  I  did  !  Everybody,  even  the  Lieutenant, 
was  looking  at  him  !  By  the  way,  Griff,  did  you  see  Davison  speaking  to 
me  just  before  he  was  hit?" 

"Yes,  I  did." 

"Well,  he  was  saying  that  he  had  never  seen  a  veteran  behave  better." 

"But  didn't  he  fight  ?  the  little  cuss. " 

' '  I  should  say  he  did ,  like  a  regular  bull-pup. "  ( "  Bull-pup ' '  was  not 
the  exact  phrase  used,  but  it  means  the  same  thing.) 

And  so  on,  accompanied  with,  pats  on  the  back,  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing,  the  result  of  which  was  an  immediate  pilgrimage  to  the  sutler  of 
the  nearest  German  regiment  —  the  German  sutlers  were  allowed  to  sell 
beer  —  where  the  XX  was  soon  broken  and  rapidly  disbursed  for  very  bad 
beer  at  very  high  prices.  The  finale  was  that  about  dark  the  gun  squad 
reached  camp  with  one  member  in  a  condition  that  suggested  avoidance  of 
official  observation.  Pat  answered  "  sick  in  his  quarters"  when  my  name 
was  called,  and  it  was  passed  over.  But  the  next  morning  Mitchell  sent 
for  me,  and  remarked,  sententiously,  "You  were  drunk  last  night." 

' '  Yes,  sir. ' '     (Very  meekly. ) 

No  punishment  was  inflicted,  but  terrible  threats  of  "the  fifth  wheel," 
"spread  eagle"  and  "barrel  drill"  were  uttered  in  case  the  offense  should 
be  repeated.  Moreover,  the  culprit  was  strictly  enjoined  not  to  let  "the 
Old  Man ' '  hear  of  any  such  performances,  as  he  had  a  fashion  of  disciplin 
ing  the  younger  boys  in  the  Battery  with  a  halter  strap  or  a  birch  linib, 
schoolmaster-fashion  —  a  fact  of  which  the  writer  was  well  aware  ! 

There  were  several  boys  in  the  Battery  who  were  so  young  that 
their  mothers  at  home  still  cherished  them,  and  were  more  solicitous 
about  them  than  they  would  have  been  about  full-grown  sons.  When 
these  mothers  found  out  that  their  boys  had  been  detached  in  Stewart's 
Battery  they  would  write  to  him,  begging  that  he  would  look  after  their 
behavior,  prevent  them  from  falling  into  bad  habits,  such  as  drinking, 
gambling,  etc.,  and  authorizing  him  to  deal  with  them  as  he  would  with 
his  own  children.  The  Old  Man  used  to  keep  these  letters  handy,  and 
when  one  of  these  boys  offended  he  would  draw  his  mother's  letter  on  him 
with  great  effect.  But  the  boys  were  pretty  tough,  on  an  average,  and 
whenever  Stewart  caught  them  getting  too  much  ' '  commissary ' '  or  gam 
bling  or  sassing  the  Sergeants  or  other  small  offenses  of  camp  life,  his 
methods  of  discipline  would  be  truly  paternal.  Of  course  this  sort  of 
thing  was  wholly  confined  to  the  younger  boys.  With  the  grown  men  he 
observed  the  usual  military  methods.  But  it  was  worthy  of  note  that  the 
young  boys  who  used  to  receive  the  halter  strap  or  the  birch  limb  at  his 
hands  never  laid  up  resentment  against  him,  and  they  were  always  the 


SOME  OF  OUR  "VETERAN"  CANNONEERS. 


127 


128  THE  CANNONEER. 

objects  of  his  special  care  and  affection.  He  always  used  to  speak  of  these 
boys  as  "my  laddies"  — in  his  Scotch  phrase  —  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  older  men. 

Another  escapade  was  a  rough-and-tumble  fight  one  day  at  the  forage 
train  between  the  author  and  one  of  Eeynolds's  men,  in  which  one  of  the 
combatants  got  pretty  well  mauled,  and  unfortunately  that  one  was  not 
Reynolds's  man !  This  battle  grew  out  of  a  dispute  as  to  which  of  the  two 
batteries  had  held  its  position  the  longer  in  the  wreck  of  the  first  day  of 
Gettysburg.  Another  ' '  brilliant  operation  ' '  was  the  ' '  capture  "  of  a  large 
demijohn  of  whisky  from  the  quarters  of  Capt.  Jim  Cooper,  of  Battery  B, 
1st  Pennsylvania.  This  was  taken  from  under  the  gallant  Captain's  bunk, 
while  he  lay  in  it  one  night,  by  cutting  through  the  rear  of  the  tent.  Ad 
vantage  was  taken  of  a  heavy  shower  of  rain,  which  made  so  much  noise 
beating  upon  the  roof  of  the  tent  that  Capt.  Jim  could  not  detect  the  oper 
ations  in  his  flank  and  rear.  It  is  not  necessary  to  mention  names,  but 
several  of  the  most  distinguished  warriors  of  our  Battery  wTere  convinced 
that  Capt.  Jim  Cooper  was  not  only  a  most  excellent  officer  and  brave  sol 
dier,  but  also  a  thorough  connoisseur  in  the  matter  of  good  whisky.  In 
order  to  make  it  more  binding  we  succeeded,  with  Mitchell's  assistance,  in 
getting  one  canteen  of  this  nectar  into  the  hands  of  the  Old  Man,  thereby 
making  him  particcps  criminis.  And,  to  make  the  record  entirely  com 
plete,  the  story  went  that  when  Capt.  Cooper  happened  to  visit  Stewart 
the  next  day  and  bewailed  the  loss  of  his  ' '  supplies, ' '  Stewart  sympatheti 
cally  solaced  him  with  a  drink  of 'his  own  whisky  out  of  that  same  canteen, 
and  neither  of  them  was  ever  the  wiser  for  it !  But  there  was  alwrays  a 
mystery  as  to  who  stole  Capt.  Jim  Cooper's  big  demijohn! 

Another  incident  occurred  one  night,  just  after  dark,  a  short  distance 
above  our  camp,  where  a  two-horse  sutler  wagon  loaded  with  "officers' 
stores ' '  tipped  over.  Quite  a  number  of  us  went  up  there  to  help  put  the 
wagon  on  its  wheels  again,  but  candor  compels  me  to  say  that  its  load  was 
much  lighter  when  wre  got  it  righted  than  it  was  before.  Among  those 
who  helped  this  poor  sutler  out  of  his  difficulty  were  Henry  Klinefelter, 
Tom  Price,  Johnny  Cook,  Anse  Jillson,  Billy  Hinman,  the  author  and 
others.  It  is  quite  possible  that  we  ' '  took  our  pay  in  advance, ' '  or  words 
to  that  effect.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  any  one  of  us  was  a  boy  who 
would  take  anything  that  did  not  belong  to  him — unless  it  belonged  to 
an  infantry  sutler,  which  was  considered  as  being  different.  The  next 
day  the  sutler — whose  ancestors  had  found  shelter  from  the  deluge 
in  Noah's  Ark — came  over  to  our  camp  to  complain  to  Stewart  about  it. 
The  Old  Man  asked  him  what  he  had  lost,  and  whether  he  could  clearly 
identify  the  men  who  had  helped  right  his  wagon.  He  said  he  thought 
so,  whereupon  Stewart  said  that  if  he  would  come  that  evening  at  roll 
call  he  would  walk  down  the  battery  line  with  him,  and  they  would  pick 
out  the  malefactors !  It  was  a  most  peculiar  coincidence,  and  I  never  knew 
how  it  occurred,  but  between  the  Old  Man  and  Mitchell  not  a  single  one 
of  those  who  had  ' '  assisted ' '  the  Hebrew  sutler  happened  to  be  present  at 


"POSTING  THE  LEDGER."  129 

roll  call  that  night!    They  were  all  "detailed"  somewhere!!     Probably 
on  extra  fatigue. 

To  get  back  to  serious  things,  about  this  time,  which  was  the  early 
part  of  August,  a  general  memorandum  of  the  strength,  services  and  losses 
of  the  Battery  during  the  past  year  was  prepared  by  Mitchell,  assisted  by 
Billy  Irving  and  your  humble  servant.  During  the  period  covered  by  this 
memorandum  it>  appeared  that  the  effective  strength  of  the  Battery  had 
varied  from  130  in  the  return  for  August,  1862,  to  63  in  the  return  for 
July,  1863,  which  was  the  strength  remaining  just  after  Gettysburg.  The 
monthly  average  had  been  about  103  enlisted  men  present  for  duty,  and 
from  112  to  136  horses,  according  as  we  had  12  caissons  or  eight. 

The  losses  had  been  as  follows  : 

Men.  Horses. 

Second  Bull  Run 5    (3)  3 

Antietam 44(40)  40 

Fredericksburg 10    (8)  11 

Chancellorsville 4    (4) 

Gettysburg 40  (36)  37 

Total 103  (91)         91 

Of  the  103  men5  14  were  killed  and  10  mortally  wounded,  namely  r 
Bull  Run  two,  Antietam  12,  Fredericksburg  three,  and  Gettysburg  seven. 
Phil  Frazier,  one  of  the  four  wounded  at  Chancellorsville,  also  died  a  little 
later  than  this. 

The  figures  in  parentheses  refer  to  losses  officially  reported.  It  must 
be  understood  that  there  were  many  slight  wounds  temporarily  incapaci 
tating  men  from  duty,  but  not  severe  enough  to  require  hospital  treatment. 
Stewart  and  Mitchell  did  not  include  such  cases  in  the  casualty  returns. 
Besides,  at  Antietam,  four  infantrymen  of  the  7th  Wisconsin  were  wounded 
while  helping  to  carry  ammunition,  and  two  infantrymen  were  killed  and 
two  wounded  at  Gettysburg  in  the  same  way.  These  were  not  included  in 
the  Battery  returns,  but  were  nominally  reported  to  their  regiments. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  losses  of  the  Battery  in  action  during  the  year 
were  about  equal  to  its  monthly  average  present  for  duty.  Of  course  these 
appalling  losses  required  an  almost  constant  stream  of  recruits  to  keep  the 
Battery  supplied  with  anything  like  a  working  complement.  It  must  be 
understood  that  the  above  account  of  losses  includes  only  men  killed  or 
more  or  less  disabled,  or  compelled  to  go  to  hospital  for  treatment  of  their 
wounds.  If  all  those  hit  slightly  were  included,  the  Battery  would  have 
been  wiped  out,  for  at  the  time  that  memorandum  was  made  out  there  was 
hardly  a  man  in  the  Battery,  veteran  or  recruit,  who  had  not  been  hit  or 
had  the  blood  drawn  or  been  bruised,  or  had  his  clothes  torn  by  a  bullet 
or  a  piece  of  shell !  And  yet,  in  all  that  fighting,  the  Battery  had  not  lost 
a  gun,  had  not  been  taken  or  run  over  by  the  enemy,  had  lost  no  equip 
ment,  except  horses  killed  or  caissons  blown  up  or  crippled  by  the  enemy's 
shells  in  battle,  and  not  a  man  had  ever  been  known  to  flinch  ! 

It  will  be  seen  that  these  figures  differ  slightly  from  those  of  the 
sketch  as  originally  printed  in  THE  NATIONAL  TEIBUNE.  Those  figures 


130  THE  CANNONEEK. 

were  given  from  memory  only.  These  are  the  result  of  careful  examina 
tion  of  the  official  records. 

These  ghastly  facts  were  well  known  in  the  corps.  In  view  of  them 
the  soldiers  of  the  Iron  Brigade  nicknamed  the  Battery  "Bloody  B!" 
About  this  time  an  effort  was  made  to  obtain  some  more  detached  volun 
teers,  in  order  to  fill  up  the  complement  to  100  men.  Among  the  regi 
ments  called  on  was  the  14th  Brooklyn,  as  gallant  a  lot»of  fellows  as  the 
army  afforded,  but  no  one  volunteered.  It  was  said  that  the  word  was 
passed  among  them :  ' '  Remember  the  Antietam  Cornfield  and  the  Rail 
road  Cut  of  Gettysburg  !  "  No  one  apparantly  wanted  any  of  that  medi 
cine  !  However,  by  return  to  duty  of  convalescents,  who  had  been 
wounded  in  previous  battles,  the  strength  of  the  Battery  was  gradually 
brought  up  to  a  comfortable  footing. 

Our  old  boys  had  a  fashion  of  returning  to  duty  after  severe  wounds, 
"which  bespeaks  the  stuff  that  was  in  them  more  eloquently  than  eulogy 
could  do.  The  Battery  had  lost  prior  to  Gettysburg  52  men  wounded, 
and  yet  quite  a  number  of  these  were  on  hand  at  Gettysburg  !  And  some 
of  them  were  hit  there  again  and  went  to  hospital,  and  still  returned  to 
duty  a  third  time  !  Eulogy  would  go  to  waste  on  such  soldiers  as  they 
were ! 

As  Stewart  was  the  only  officer  now  with  the  Battery,  and  needed  a 
Second  Lieutenant,  he  vehemently  recommended  the  promotion  of  Ord. 
Serg't  John  Mitchell.  This  recommendation  was  approved  by  Gen.  Wain- 
wright  and  Gen.  Hunt.  About  a  month  afterward  the  news  came  that  the 
Orderly  Sergeant  had  been  made  Second  Lieutenant,  and  would  be  assigned 
to  our  Battery.  This  promotion  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the  men.  We 
had  heard  that  a  young  Lieutenant  from  West  Point  was  to  be  assigned  to 
us,  and  did  not  like  that.  Not  that  we  had  anything  against  West  Pointers, 
but  Mitchell  was  regarded  by  every  man  in  the  Battery  as  his  personal 
friend,  and  they  all  felt  that  if  ever  a  man  had  earned  a  promotion  it  was 
he.  In  the  capacity  of  Lieutenant  he  .was,  of  course,  compelled  to  keep 
somewhat  more  aloof  from  the  men  than  he  had  previously  done,  but  he 
did  not  "put  on  any  unnecessary  style."  Among  " us  veterans  "  he  was 
' '  Jack  Mitchell ' '  always.  In  his  subsequent  career  as  an  officer,  either 
as  second  in  command  to  Stewart  or  as  commander  of  the  Battery  after 
Stewart  left  it  in  the  Fall  of  1864,  Mitchell's  intercourse  with  the  old  men 
who  had  served  with  him  in  the  ranks  was  a  curious  blending  of  the  com 
mander  and  the  comrade.  To  the  new  men  who  came  in  from  time  to 
time  he  was  always  the  officer.  And  while  he  never  really  unbent  his  dig 
nity  with  the  old  veterans,  still  it  must  be  said  that  there  were  occasions 
when  his  perception  was  very  dull.  Sometimes  the  veterans  would  get 
drunk  or  get  to  fighting  with  other  soldiers.  On  these  occasions  there 
would  sometimes  be  exercise  of  no  little  ingenuity  to  subserve  the  forms 
of  good  discipline,  and  at  the  same  time  avoid  punishing  a  man  who  "had 
fought  at  Antietam  or  at  Gettysburg.  "  Because  it  was  almost  a  rule  in 
the  Battery  that  such  veterans  should  not  suffer  any  humiliating  punish- 


MITCHELL'S  HUMOR.  131 

ment.  If  he  had  a  fault  as  an  officer  it  was  in  the  direction  of  partiality 
toward  his  veteran  comrades  in  the  ranks.  But,  after  all,  this  was  only 
a  good  streak  of  human  nature. 

Mitchell  was  full  of  droll  Irish  humor.  One  day  in  the  Winter  camp 
near  Culpeper  —  as  the  boys  told  the  story — there  was  a  "personal  diffi 
culty"  between  Tom  C and  a  volunteer  artilleryman.  Our  Tom  was 

a  Wisconsin  lumberman  and  a  ' '  honey -cooler, ' '  as  the  boys  say.  His  an 
tagonist  in  about  two  minutes  looked  as  if  he  had  been  put  through  a  10- 
horse  thrashing  machine  head  first.  Well,  they  were  separated  and  arrested, 
and  the  volunteer  Captain  came  over  to  see  Mitchell  about  it,  bringing  his 
dilapidated  man  along.  He  wanted  both  men  severely  punished,  and  said 
he  would  punish  his  man  at  once  if  Mitchell  would  promise  to  inflict  the 
same  punishment  on  our  Tom. 

Mitchell  looked  the  man  over  and  replied,  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye, 
"  Well,  Captain,  don't  you  think  your  man  has  got  about  all  the  punish 
ment  he  needs  ? ' ' 

During  these  weeks  of  comparative  inaction  the  natural  turbulence  of 
our  boys  expressed  itself  in  several  raids  on  the  sutlers  of  neighboring 
infantry  regiments  and  other  offenses  of  camp  life,  which  caused  investi 
gation,  though  nothing  was  distinctly  located  upon  us.  But  suspicion  was 
strong,  and  one  day,  when  Stewart  had  gone  to  Washington  on  a  brief 
leave  and  Mitchell  was  in  command,  the  Acting  Chief  of  Artillery  of  the 
corps  came  over  to  say  that  unless  something  was  done  to  keep  our  boys 
from  disturbing  the  infantry  camps,  fighting,  etc.,  their  liberty  would  be 
suspended  —  in  other  words,  that  the  Battery  \vould  be  "quarantined  in 
camp, ' '  as  we  used  to  say. 

In  response  to  this  Mitchell  said  that  "the  boys  were  always  on  hand 
when  needed;  that  he  did  not  pretend  that  they  were  Sunday-school  scholars. 
As  for  the  fighting  which  was  complained  of,  he  would  do  all  he  could  to 
keep  them  peaceable,  but  it  was  necessary  for  the  good  of  the  service  that 
they  should  keep  their  hand  in ! ! "  He  was  sorry  to  hear  that  they  had 
tipped  over  the  sutler's  cart,  of  the  41st  New  York,  as  alleged,  but  if  the 
sutler  knew  them  as  well  as  he  did,  he  would  be  d  —  d  glad  that  he  got 
off  that  easy !  In  short,  Mitchell  said  the  best  way  to  correct  the  turbu 
lence  of  the  Battery  in  camp  as  complained  of  would  be  to  give  them 
another  chance  at  the  enemy.  The  promotion  of  Mitchell  made  Andrew 
D.  McBride  Orderly  Sergeant.  Andy  was  one  of  the  "Oldest  Eegulars," 
and  had  then  just  begun  his  third  term  of  service  in  the  Battery,  having 
been  with  it  in  the  Utah  expedition.  He  was  by  no  means  so  agreeable 
in  his  ways  as  Mitchell,  but  was  a  fine  soldier,  and  a  man  of  the  most 
dauntless  bravery.  Some  of  the  boys  did  not  like  him,  and  they  nick 
named  him  "Snapping-turtle"  and  "the  Old  Buffalo  Bull,"  and  similar 
sobriquets.  But  underneath  his  rude  exterior  beat  a  heart  as  warm  and 
as  brave  as  ever  tenanted  a  man's  bosom,  and  when  the  boys  got  used  to 
him  there  was  no  trouble.  To  me  he  was  always  kind  and  pleasant,  ex 
ceptionally  so,  in  fact,  and  my  recollections  of  him  are  all  agreeable. 


132  THE  CANNONEEB. 

The  group  of  boys  whose  portraits  appear  on  page  127  represents  five 
States.  Freeman,  Price,  Shemmell,  Hinman,  Klinefelter  and  Johnson 
were  from  Wisconsin,  Irving  from  Michigan,  Knight  from  Indiana,  Cook 
from  Ohio  and  myself  from  New  York.  They  were  all  under  20  years  of 
age,  and  Cook  was  but  15.  All  were  detached  volunteers  except  Cook, 
who  was  a  Eegular.  All  of  them  had  been  in  the  battle  of  Antietam 
except  Irving  and  myself,  who  had  not  then  joined.  All  were  at  Gettys 
burg  except  Johnson,  who  had  lost  his  right  arm  at  Fredericksburg.  All 
except  Johnson  were  in  the  Wilderness  and  at  Spottsylvania,  and  all  of 
those  except  Irving,  who  fell  at  Spottsylvania,  were  at  Bethesda  Church 
and  in  the  assaults  on  Petersburg.  The  casualties  in  this  group  of  10 
boys  were :  Irving,  killed ;  Shemmell,  Johnson,  Cook  and  Price  wounded, 
more  or  less  severely,  and  Knight,  Klinefelter  and  Hinman  slightly.  Of 
those  wounded  all  returned  to  duty  and  served  out  their  terms  of  enlist 
ment  except  John  Johnson  ;  and  they  are  all  alive  at  this  writing  except 
Billy  Irving.  No  doubt  there  were  many  other  groups  of  10  boys  in  the 
army  that  could  show  a  better  record,  but  I  am  waiting  to  see  it.  It  is 
a  pleasure  to  add  that  all  these  boys  have  done  tolerably  well  in  life 
since  the  war,  and,  barring  the  scars  of  those  wounded,  are  not  much  the 
worse  for  wear  on  account  of  what  they  went  through  during  those  event 
ful  years  of  their  youth.  One  of  them,  Henry  G.  Klinefelter,  was  pro 
moted  to  a  Lieutenantcy  in  the  51st  Wisconsin  after  two  years'  service 
in  the  Battery. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


A  SPECIMEN  Scour — CLERKING  AT  HEADQUARTERS — COURTS-MARTIAL 
—  MR.  LINCOLN'S  CLEMENCY— MANY  CONVICTED  BUT  FEW  EXE 
CUTED — SHOOTING  DESERTERS  —  PUBLIC  SENTIMENT  AMONG  THE 
TROOPS  —  REORGANIZATION  OF  THE  ARMY  — THE  NEW  FIFTH 
CORPS— GEN.  WARREN— GEN.  GRANT'S  VIEWS— CROSSING  THE 
RAPIDAN  — HALT  IN  THE  WILDERNESS. 

I       "  _|    WAS  not  immediately  familiar  with  the 
'         -v  F^    movements  of  the  corps  or  operations  of 

the  Artillery  Brigade  after  October,  1863, 
being  detailed  about  that  time  for  clerical 
duty  at  headquarters  in  connection  with 
courts-martial,  many  of  which  were  going 
on  at  that  time — a  bit  of  "soft  duty,"  for 
which  I  was  indebted  to  the  good  graces 
of  Lieut.  Mitchell ;  so  I  will  not  attempt 
to  describe  in  detail  the  work  of  the  Bat 
tery  during  the  Mine  Run  campaign,  in 
November,  1863,  except  to  say  that  its 
services  were  limited  to  marching  and 
^countermarching,  until  it  finally  went 
into  Winter  quarters  near  Culpeper  Court 
house  about  the  1st  of  December  with  the 
rest  of  the  First  Corps  and  the  army 
generally. 

The  operations  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  immediately  after  Gettys 
burg  were  not  marked  by  any  great  events.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
marching  and  manuvering,  with  occasional  skirmishes,  mainly  by  the  cav 
alry,  rarely  ever  involving  more  than  one  brigade,  and  a  good  many  recon- 
noissances  in  force,  involving  exchange  of  shots,  but  no  affair  of  any  con 
siderable  importance  happened  until  about  the  middle  of  October,  when  a 
large  skirmish  or  small  battle  occurred  at  Bristoe  between  the  Second  and 
Fifth  Corps  and  a  division  of  cavalry  on  our  side  and  a  variously-estimated 
force  of  the  enemy.  At  headquarters  this  affair  used  to  be  discussed  by 
officers,  and  the  prevailing  sentiment  was  that  Gen.  Meade  had  a  good 
opportunity  to  strike  a  heavy  and  probably  successful  blow  there,  but  lost 
it  in  consequence  of  the  lack  of  concentration  of  his  forces,  the  different 
corps  of  the  army  being  at  that  moment  even  more  widely  dispersed  than 
they  were  on  the  eve  of  Gettysburg.  It  was  known  in  our  camp  that  Lee 
had  reduced  his  army  by  sending  Longstreet's  Corps  out  West  to  reinforce 
Bragg,  and  all  the  information  we  could  get  was  that  his  remaining  forces 
were  at  low  ebb  numerically. 


134  THE  CANNONEER. 

Abont  this  time  we  lx>ys  at  headquarters  made  the  acquaintance  of 
one  of  our  scouts,  who  used  to  be  about  headquarters  frequently.  He  had 
a  large  and  varied  assortment  of  names,  of  which  the  one  best  known  to 
us  was  Graham.  He  was  a  cool,  taciturn,  gray-eyed  man,  who  always  gave 
you  the  idea  that  he  was  not  a  good  subject  to  "project  with."  He  had 
several  times  gone  into  the  Confederate  lines,  and  at  the  particular  time  in 
mind  he  had  just  returned  from  a  trip  to  Richmond.  He  had  made  his 
way  thither  from  Washington  by  way  of  Suffolk,  through  the  Black  Water 
country  to  Petersburg,  and  thence  to  Richmond,  where  he  had  remained 
some  time.  He  had  then  gone  to  Gordons ville  and  thence  across  the 
mountains  into  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  From  there  he  had  made  his  way 
back  to  our  army  near  Warrenton. 

It  is  not  easy  to  comprehend  the  perils  that  would  surround  such  a 
journey  as  this  at  that  time.  Detection  and  capture  meant  death  without 
benefit  of  clergy.  He  had  an  assortment  of  Confederate  passes  under 
different  names,  and  we  used  to  wonder  how  on  earth  he  could  have  ob 
tained  them.  Some  of  the  boys  used  to  tip  the  wink  and  whisper  to  one 
another  that  possibly  Graham  was  a  "universal  scout,"  and  that  he  di 
vided  his  services  impartially  between  Meade  and  Lee. 

However,  the  information  he  used  to  bring  in  as  to  the  positions  of 
Lee's  forces  and  their  approximate  strength  and  condition  were  as  accurate 
as  his  means  of  observation  would  permit.  If,  as  some  of  the  boys  about 
headquarters  suspected,  he  gave  equally  valuable  information  about  our 
army  to  Lee,  it  was  at  least  a  stand  off.  As  remarked,  this  fellow  was 
ordinarily  taciturn,  but  once  in  a  while  he  would  thaw  out  a  little,  and 
then  his  stories  of  adventure  were  almost  incredible,  but  he  had  a  peculiar 
fashion  of  relating  them  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  and  in  such  a  nonchalant, 
matter-of-fact  manner  that  it  was  impossible  to  discredit  him.  One  of  his 
most  remarkable  stories,  however,  was  amply  vouched  for  by  attendant 
facts  which  formed  prima-facie  evidence.  He  was  a  printer  by  trade,  and 
on  one  of  his  scouts  had  "worked  at  the  case"  in  a  job  printing  office  in 
Richmond,  which  had  a  contract  to  do  confidential  printing  for  the  Con 
federate  War  Department.  In  this  manner  he  had  possessed  himself  of 
secret  circulars  and  other  confidential  matter  of  more  or  less  importance, 
and,  finally,  and  most  important  of  all,  a  copy  of  a  report  printed  in  confi 
dence  for  the  use  of  members  of  the  Confederate  Congress. 

This  report  related  to  the  condition  of  supplies  available  for  the  use  of 
the  Confederate  army  in  the  Spring  of  1863,  giving  estimates  of  the  meat, 
flour,  cornmeal,  etc. ,  then  in  the  Confederacy,  together  with  an  estimate, 
based  on  previous  averages,  as  to  the  extent  to  which  it  was  safe  to  depend 
on  the  blockade  runners  for  additional  supplies.  Among  other  things,  this 
circular  referred  to  barreled  beef  and  pork  shipped  from  New  York,  Boston 
and  other  Northern  ports,  on  board  English  vessels,  ostensibly  for  Liver 
pool  ,  but  actually  taken  to  Bermuda  and  Nassau,  and  thence  reshipped  in 
blockade  runners  for  Wilmington,  Mobile,  Savannah,  and  other  points  in  the 
Confederacy.  There  was  one  amusing  clause  in  this  report  complaining 


A  PISTOL  ARTIST.  135 

that  some  of  the  meat,  particularly  the  beef,  was  damaged,  and  suggesting 
that  the  barrels  "bore  marks  of  previous  condemnation  by  the  inspecting 
officers  of  the  Federal  navy."  It  was  recommended  that  the  Confederacy 
ought  to  have  inspectors  at  the  Northern  ports  (New  York,  Boston  and 
Philadelphia)  whence  this  meat  was  shipped,  as  it  appeared  that  the  In 
spectors  they  did  have  at  Bermuda  and  Nassau  seemed  to  be  inefficient ! 
This  suggestion  that  the  Rebels  ought  to  have  inspectors  stationed  at  the 
principal  Northern  ports  to  inspect  provisions  shipped  thence  by  way  of 
Nassau  and  Bermuda  for  their  army  struck  me  as  quite  absurd.  And  yet  it 
was  a  fact — and,  to  the  Confederates  themselves,  a  most  important  consid 
eration  !  There  was  one  thing  about  this  scout  that  attracted  the  attention 
and  commanded  the  profound  respect  of  all  of  us  boys.  Several  of  us,  my 
self  included,  considered  ourselves  artists  with  a  six-shooter.  "We  used  to 
practice  frequently,  and  most  of  us  could  put  all  six  bullets  into  a  playing 
card  at  12  paces.  Among  the  clerks  at  headquarters  Charley  Drake,  of 
the  1st  Jersey,  and  the  writer,  were  considered  about  the  best  pistol 
marksman.  But  we  all  ' '  laid  down  our  playthings ' '  when  Graham  came 
along.  He  had  a  very  fine  pair  of  square-barreled  (that  is  to  say,  octagon) 
dragoon  pistols,  pattern  of  1857  (Colt's),  which  had  been  presented  to  him 
by  Gen.  Hooker  on  the  occasion  of  a  certain  very  dangerous  and  important 
scouting  expedition.  At  least,  so  he  said.  They  had  ivory  butts,  silver 
mountings  and  elaborately  carved  barrels,  and  he  was  inordinately  proud 
of  them.  He  always  wore  them  when  awake,  and  when  asleep  he  kept 
them  nestled  in  his  bosom,  inside  his  blanket.  "With  these  pistols  G  raham 
would  perform  wonders.  He  was  always  wanting  one  of  us  to  hold  a  lit 
cigar  in  the  teeth  and  let  him  knock  the  ash  off  from  it  at  10  paces.  None 
of  us  would  do  that,  but  he  would  take  a  cigar  that  had  been  smoked 
enough  to  make  one-half  or  three-fourths  of  an  inch  of  ash  on  it,  stick  it 
in  a  crack  in  a  post  and  then  knock  the  ash  off  every  time.  We  have  seen 
him  take  a  blouse  and  button  it  around  a  bundle  of  straw  or  cornstalks 
and  then  drive  every  button  in,  one  after  another,  from  the  top  down,  at 
12  paces.  But  his  most  remarkable  feat  wras  to  take  his  pistol  in  one  hand 
and  an  empty  quart  bottle  in  the  other.  He  would  then  throw  his  pistol 
up  in  the  air  and  fling  the  bottle  after  it ;  when  he  would  catch  the  pistol, 
as  it  came  down,  cock  it  and  shatter  the  bottle  before  it  struck  the  ground  I 
This  he  would  do  at  least  three  times  out  of  four.  So  we  all  concluded 
that  he  would  not  be  a  good  sort  of  person  to  intercept  anywhere  on  the 
road  !  However,  a  truce  to  these  trifles. 

After  the  Bristoe  affair  the  Artillery  Brigade  of  the  First  Corps  under 
went  some  changes.  Hall's  2d  Maine  was  detached  and  went  in  the  reserve 
or  home  to  recruit,  and  Dow's  6th  Maine,  Rigby's  Maryland  Battery  and 
Mink's  Battery  (H),  1st  New  York  Light  Artillery,  came  in.  Dow's  battery 
was  soon  afterward  sent  to  the  Second  Corps,  and  the  Marylanders  went 
to  the  reserve,  but  Mink  remained  with  us  to  the  end  of  the  war.  Mink's 
Battery  was  an  institution,  and  Charley  Mink  himself  was  one  of  ' '  the 
characters"  of  the  army.  They  had  been  in  the  Peninsular  campaign  in. 


136  THE  CANNONEER. 

1862,  but  had  remained  with  the  old  Fourth  Corps,  under  Dix's  command, 
when  the  rest  of  McClellan's  army  came  back  to  Washington,  so  that  they 
had  not  shared  in  the  fighting  of  the  Second  Bull  Run,  Antietam,  Freder- 
icksburg,  Chancellorsville  or  Gettysburg.  But  when  the  Fourth  Corps  was 
broken  up  in  August,  1863,  they  came  to  Camp  Barry,  and -were  thence 
assigned  to  the  Artillery  Brigade  of  the  First  Corps.  Mink's  Battery  had 
been  raised  in  Oswego  and  Lewis  Counties,  State  of  New  York,  and  was 
composed  of  the  best  class  of  young  men  of  that  region.  Their  discipline 
was  not  exactly  of  the  style  prevalent  among  the  Regulars,  but,  as  the 
sequel  showed,  they  would  fight  whenever  it  came  their  turn,  and  "fight 
;all  over,"  too  !  From  the  time  they  joined  the  Artillery  Brigade  of  the 
First  Corps  in  October,  1863,  until  the  surrender  at  Appomattox,  there  was 
no  battery  —Volunteer  or  Regular  —  in  the  army  that  made  a  better 
record  than  Mink's,  and  no  lot  of  boys  were  better  neighbors  or  pleasanter 
comrades,  at  least  so  far  as  we  were  concerned.  Every  survivor  of  Stew 
art's  Battery  will  agree  that  there  was  no  more  cordial  or  pleasant  com 
radeship  than  that  which  always  existed  between  us  and  the  gallant 
volunteers  of  Charley  Mink's  Battery  (H),  of  the  1st  New  York,  from 
the  camp  at  Warrenton  in  1863  to  the  Grand  Review  at  Washington 
in  1865.  They  made  for  themselves  an  enviable  place  in  the  military 
history  of  the  Union. 

Early  in  October  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Corps  were  sent  out  to 
reinforce  Rosecrans's  army,  and  they  all  remained  out  West  during  the 
remainder  of  the  war.  At  this  time  (October,  1863,)  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  struck  its  ' '  low-water  mark ' '  of  strength  in  actual  present  for 
duty.  After  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Corps  went  away  and  the  nine 
mouths'  regiments  in  all  the  corps  were  mustered  out,  the  army  could  not 
muster  more  than  50,000  muskets,  if  so  many.  The  First  Corps  did  not 
have  quite  10,000,  the  Second  Corps  not  more  than  11,000,  the  Third  about 
7,000,  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  probably  11,000  apiece,  and  there  was  about 
5,000  or  5,500  cavalry.  Therefore  the  writers  who  criticize  Meade's  Mine 
Run  campaign  as  a  "  fiasco ' '  do  not  take  suflicient  account  of  all  the  facts. 
The  "defense  of  Washington"  was  then,  as  it  always  had  been,  the  pri 
mary  consideration,  and  in  the  Fall  of  1863  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had 
doubtless  become  so  weak  in  numbers  that  it  was  not  considered  prudent 
to  take  the  risks  which  an  energetic  offensive  campaign  south  of  the  Rapidan 
would  have  involved.  These  matters  were  discussed  by  officers  about  Gen. 
Patrick's  headquarters,  and  the  impression  at  the  time  was  that  our  authori 
ties  at  Washington  had  adopted  a  waiting  policy,  partly  in  belief  that 
every  day  of  delay  weakened  the  Confederacy,  and  partly  because  it  had 
become  necessary  to  take  energetic  steps  to  recruit  up  our  own  forces  for  a 
final  eifort. 

After  the  Bristoe  affair  Lee  retreated  again,  the  army  following  him 
back  to  the  country  between  the  Rapidan  and  Rappahannock.  Here  an 
affair  occurred  at  Rappahannock  Station  in  which  Russell's  Division,  of 
ihe  Sixth  Corps,  showed  that  the  old  spirit  was  still  strong  in  the  breasts 


NEWSPAPER  STRATEGY.  137 

of  our  men,  and  taught  the  enemy  a  lesson  of  caution  which  their  long 
immunity  from  serious  attack  had  put  them  very  much  in  need  of. 

Lee  now  retreated  to  the  south  side  of  the  Rapidan,  and  about  the  first 
week  in  November  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  took  up  a  line  based  on  Cul- 
peper  Courthouse,  and  picketed  the  north  bank  of  the  Rapidan  with  cavalry 
or  infantry,  or  both,  from  the  mouth  of  Cedar  Run  on  our  right  to  Ger- 
mania  Ford  on  the  left,  a  distance  of  over  20  miles.  The.  troops  now  gen 
erally  supposed  that  this  would  be  Winter  quarters,  as  the  season  was 
unusually  cold  and  wet,  the  roads  bad,  and  there  was  every  indication  of 
a  severe  Winter  for  that  latitude.  They  therefore  went  to  work  at  once  to 
build  huts,  and  soon  made  themselves  quite  comfortable.  The  camp  of  the 
First  Corps  was  along  the  road  to  Raccoon  Ford,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Pony  Mountain,  where  the  signal  station  was.  The  ground  was  a  ridge 
forming  the  divide  between  two  small  streams  emptying  into  the  Rapidan, 
so  that  it  was  dry  and  afforded  good  drainage  for  the  camps.  There  was 
plenty  of  timber  in  the  neighborhood  both  for  log  huts  and  fuel,  the  front 
and  flank  were  easily  guarded,  the  railroad  from  Alexandria  was  soon  re 
paired  and  got  in  running  order  to  Brandy  Station,  and  soon  after  to  Cul- 
peper,  so  that  we  had  a  competent  line  of  supply,  and  everybody  settled 
down  to  the  pleasant  anticipation  of  a  good  long  rest. 

But  this  did  not  suit  the  home-guard  editors,  who,  with  Horace  Greeley 
at  their  head,  now  redoubled  their  shrieks  of  "On  to  Richmond.-'  The 
disgust  of  the  troops  at  the  front  on  account  of  these  tirades  was  unspeak 
able.  The  editors  were  all  either  too  old  or  too  cowardly  to  come  to  the 
front,  and  exploited  their  "patriotism"  by  urging  gallant  soldiers  onto 
useless  slaughter,  as  if  their  exploits  in  the  same  direction  the  previous 
Winter,  when  they  goaded  the  President  to  order  Burnside's  miserable 
butchery  of  Fredericksburg,  was  not  enough. 

However,  the  howling  of  these  journalistic  "strategists  "  had  its  effect, 
as  it  had  so  often  done  before,  and  the  result  was  that  the  army,  just  as  it 
had  begun  to  get  a  little  rest  and  take  some  comfort,  was  routed  out,  put 
in  motion,  and  in  the  last  week  of  November,  in  the  midst  of  cold  rain 
and  sleet,  crossed  the  Rapidan  at  Germania  Ford.  On  this  occasion  the 
Second,  Third,  Fifth  and  Sixth  Corps,  and  the  cavalry,  with  the  First 
Corps  in  reserve,  advanced  toward  Orange  Courthouse  on  the  pike  and 
plank  roads  until  they  encountered  Lee's  army  in  a  strong  position, 
well  intrenched,  along  the  west  bank  of  Mine  Run.  This  stream  heads 
about  two  or  three  miles  south  of  the  plank  road,  and  flows  directly  north, 
emptying  into  the  Rapidan  near  Brooks's  Ford,  or,  as  some  of  the  inhabi 
tants  call  it,  "Jake's  Ford."  In  its  course  it  crosses  both  the  plank  road 
and  the  pike,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  the  way  its  west  bank  affords 
positions  commanding  all  passable  roads  from  the  north  and  east.  Here 
they  found  Lee,  with  a  force  variously  estimated  at  from  35,000  to  40,000 
men,  in  strong  earthworks  and  abundantly  supplied  with  artillery.  After 
careful  recounoissance  and  some  cannonading  our  Generals  discovered 
-conclusively  that  to  assail  these  works  with  the  40,000  or  45,000  troops 


138  THE  CANNONEER. 

then  effective  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  wonld  be  simply  to  repeat  the 
butchery  of  Fredericksburg,  and  they  at  once  retraced  their  steps  to  the 
camps  north  of  the  Rapidan,  where  they  were  content  to  remain  the  rest 
of  the  Winter.  This  camp  was  the  most  comfortable  Winter  quarters  they 
had  ever  enjoyed.  Camp  was  not  moved  or  disturbed  from  the  1st  of  De 
cember  until  May  following,  a  period  of  five  months.  The  men  built  log 
huts  for  themselves  and  stables  for  the  horses.  Supplies  of  every  descrip 
tion  were  plenty  and  of  good  quality.  During  the  Winter  a  good  many 
men  whose  terms  would  expire  during  the  following  Summer  re-enlisted 
under  the  veteran  law,  receiving  bounties  amounting  to  $1,000  in  many 
cases,  together  with  30-day  furloughs  to  visit  their  homes.  About  25,000, 
or  perhaps  more,  re-enlisted  in  this  manner  during  the  Winter.  As  before 
remarked,  I  saw  but  little  of  this  Winter  camp,  being  detached  on  cleri 
cal  duty  at  headquarters  from  Oct.  10,  1863,  to  April  12,  1864. 

During  the  Gettysburg  campaign,  particularly  after  the  battle,  there 
had  been  an  enormous  number  of  desertions,  largely  from  the  Pennsyl 
vania,  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  New  England  regiments.  Along  in 
September  and  October  of  1863  many  deserters  had  been  apprehended  in 
the  North  and  sent  back  to  the  army.  It  is  stated  in  the  histories  that 
5,000  men  deserted  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  between  May  and  August, 
1863.  So  in  the  Fall  of  1863  Gen.  Meade  determined  to  see  if  something 
could  not  be  done  to  put  a  stop  to  this  evil.  He  therefore  ordered  that 
courts-martial  should  be  convened  in  every  division,  and  a  more  vigorous 
mode  of  dealing  with  deserters  put  in  practice.  It  was  currently  under 
stood  that  every  man  against  whom  a  clear  case  of  willful  desertion  could 
be  proved  should  be  sentenced  to  death. 

Of  course  no  such  order  was  issued  in  those  words,  but  the  wish  of  the 
Commander-in-Chief  was  well  known  to  all  officers  forming  courts-martial. 
The  death  sentences  began  to  roll  in  frightfully.  The  clerks  actually 
sickened  with  the  fearful  iteration  of  copying  the  phrase,  "And  the  Court, 
more  than  two-thirds  thereof  concurring  therein,  do  therefore  sentence 

him,  the  said  Private ,  of  Co.  — ,  — th  regiment, volunteers,  to 

be  shot  to  death  with  musketry,  at  such  time  and  place  as  the  command 
ing  General  may  direct. ' ' 

These  findings,  after  being  copied  and  filed,  were  sent  on  to  Washing 
ton  for  review  by  the  President.  In  hardly  any  case  were  they  returned 
approved,  with  orders  for  execution ;  but  they  came  back  pardoned,  or 
commuted  in  various  ways,  from  imprisonment  at  hard  labor  from  six 
months  to  two  years,  down  to,  in  some  cases,  ' '  forfeiture  of  three  months' 
pay,"  or  "making  good  the  time  lost  by  desertion,"  etc.  This  was  very 
disheartening  to  Gen.  Meade,  who  could  not  see  how  he  was  to  maintain 
discipline  if  the  power  to  punish  malefactors  was  taken  from  him  or  re 
duced  to  a  farce,  as  above  described.  Besides,  the  good,  honest  men  who 
stuck  to  their  duty  felt  that  it  was  unjust  to  them  to  let  skulkers  and 
deserters  off  so  easy,  and  they  began  to  wonder  whether,  after  all,  it  paid 
to  be  faithful  to  duty  in  that  army. 


EXECUTIVE  CLEMENCY. 


On  one  occasion  we  made  up  a  list  of  186  death  sentences  by  courts- 
martial  for  such  offenses  as  desertion,  sleeping  on  picket  post,  robbery, 
and  even  murder  of  comrades  or  of  civilians,  insubordination  in  the  face 
of  the  enemy,  etc.,  and  the  record  showed  that  only  three  out  of  the  186 
were  approved  by  the  President  and  executed.  Of  these  three,  t\vo  were 
for  rape  and  the  other  one  for  murdering  an  officer.  It  is  doubtless  true 
that,  in  the  last  two  years  of  the  war  particularly,  courts-martial  dealt  out 
death  sentences  with  a  pretty  lavish  hand,  and  so  Mr.  Lincoln's  clemency 
was  in  many  cases  well  timed.  This  was  chiefly  true  of  "sleeping  on 
post"  cases,  where  often  a  soldier,  already  exhausted  by  long  march  or 
enfeebled  by  disease,  would  succumb  to  the  resistless  requirements  of 
nature  and  fall  asleep.  There  was  one  case  in  which  the  evidence 
showed  that  the  accused — a  private  of  the  8th  New  York  Cavalry, 
a  gallant  and  faithful  boy  soldier — had  been  on  continuous  duty  for  48 
hours  on  a  raid,  when  he  was  put  on  picket,  and  not  relieved  for  seven 
hours ;  yet  this  boy  was  sentenced  to  be  "shot  to  death  with  musketry," 
though  the  members  of  the  court-martial  themselves  recommended  him  to 
Executive  clemency  on  the  grounds  above  stated.  Of  course  he  was  par 
doned  and  restored  to  duty  at  once.  But  in  many  of  the  desertion,  rob 
bery  and  murder  cases  the  President's  clemency  was  mistaken,  and  did 

much  harm  to  the  cause  of 
discipline  by  saving  lives 
which  were  of  no  value,  and 
by  filling  the  military  pris 
ons  with  a  class  of  despera 
does  who  frequently  commit 
ted  crime  for  the  purpose  of 
escaping  battle  by  going  to 
-s^~  prison,  and  who,  when  re 
leased  by  the  amnesty  at  the 
H  close  of  the  war,  became 
~-^-;sgr:r:s=.  simply  so  many  professional 
criminals  let  loose  upon  soci 
ety.  Besides,  it  was  an  in 
justice  and  hardship  on  the 
good  soldiers  and  honest  men 
of  a  command.  Every  veteran 
knows  that  three  or  four  invet 
erate  deadbeats,  skulkers  or 
thieves  among  a  company  or 
A  MILITARY  EXECUTION.  battery  of  90  or  100  men  won  Id 

destroy  the  reputation  of  the  entire  command,  and  cause  no  end  of  annoy 
ance  and  humiliation  to  the  honest  and  faithful  men,  no  matter  how  largely 
they  might  be  in  the  majority.  For  this  reason  the  more  respectable  pub 
lic  opinion  of  the  army  always  favored  strict  discipline.  If  there  were  50 
men  in  a  company,  and  one  committed  a  grave  crime,  all  the  other  49' 


140  THE  CANNONEER. 

thought  he  ought  to  be  punished.  They  could  see  no  reason  why  they 
themselves  should  stick  to  their  duty  if  one  rascally  sneak  or  deserter  was 
permitted  to  go  unscathed.  From  this  point  of  view  Mr.  Lincoln's  habit 
ual  clemency  certainly  had  a  bad  effect  on  the  discipline  of  the  army. 

During  my  time  at  Provost  headquarters  there  was  not  one  execution 
or  even  death  sentence  of  a  light  artilleryman  ;  in  fact,  but  three  men  be 
longing  to  that  arm  of  the  service  were  executed  in  the  Army  of  the  Po 
tomac  during  the  whole  war.  They  were  Private  Chandler,  of  Battery  K, 
4th  Regulars,  shot  in  front  of  Petersburg,  September,  1864,  for  desertion; 
and  Privates  Clarke  and  Dermody,  of  Battery  H,  1st  Pennsylvania,  hanged 
for  murder  near  Washington  in  March,  1863.  From  August,  1863,  to  May, 
1864,  there  were  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  two  executions  in  the  14th 
Connecticut,  one  in  the  3d  and  two  in  the  5th  Maine,  one  in  the  3d  and 
another  in  the  4th  Maryland,  one  in  the  15th  Massachusetts  and  one  in  the 
Andrew  (Massachusetts)  Sharpshooters,  one  in  the  4th  Jersey,  nine  or  10 
in  different  New  York  regiments,  seven  in  Pennsylvania  regiments,  two 
from  Vermont  and  one  from  the  llth  Regular  Infantry.  The  most  re 
markable  of  these  executions  occurred  in  the  118th  Pennsylvania  (the 
"Corn  Exchange  Regiment")  the  last  Friday  in  August,  1863,  when  they 
shot  four  deserters  at  once.  This  was  the  most  comprehensive  execution 
that  ever  took  place  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  It  was  conducted  with 
extraordinary  solemnity.  The  118th  belonged  to  the  First  Brigade  of 
Griffin's  Division,  Fifth  Corps.  How  Mr.  Lincoln  was  ever  induced  to  ap 
prove  the  sentences  of  these  unfortunate  men  no  one  can  ever  know  ;  but 
he  did,  and  the  result  was  a  scene  which  no  soldier  of  the  Fifth  Army  Corps 
can  ever  forget.  Of  these  executions  the  writer  witnessed  quite  enough  to 
satisfy  any  reasonable  curiosity,  though  subsequently  he  saw  three  more, 
one  near  Winchester  in  the  Valley  campaign  of  1864  by  drumhead  court- 
martial,  and  the  other  two  in  front  of  Petersburg,  shortly  before  the  be 
ginning  of  the  Appomattox  campaign.  On  one  occasion  the  culprit,  a 
man  named  Folancey,  of  the  118th  Pennsylvania,  was  not  killed  by  the 
firing  party,  though  hit  by  several  bullets.  He  sat  down  on  the  ground 
and  moaned  piteously,  swaying  his  head  from  side  to  side,  dazed  by  the 
horrors  of  his  situation,  but  still  realizing  it !  The  Deputy  Provost  Marshal 
approached  him,  revolver  in  hand,  to  perform  his  cruel  duty,  but  seemed 
to  falter.  For  a  moment  every  one  held  his  breath.  You  could  have  heard 
a  pin  drop  anywhere  on  the  field.  The  officer  in  charge  of  the  ceremonies, 
a  Pennsylvania  Colonel  and  a  good-hearted  man  who,  it  is  presumed,  would 
prefer  not  to  have  his  honorable  name  identified  with  such  a  horror,  spurred 
his  horse  up  to  the  Deputy  Provost  and  sternly  commanded,  "Do  your 
duty,  sir ! "  The  Deputy,  a  young  Lieutenant,  let  go  of  his  revolver  and  it 
fell  to  the  ground.  The  Colonel  then  dismounted,  drew  his  own  pistol  and 
shot  the  man  just  above  the  right  ear,  instantly  terminating  his  sufferings  ! 
It  was  said  that  the  Lieutenant  resigned  and  left  the  service.  But 
everybody  who  saw  it  pitied  the  Colonel,  who  really  never  got  over  the  ter 
rible  affair  ;  though  if  he  was  a  philosophical  man  he  should  have  dismissed 


Six  MONTHS'  SOFT  DUTY.  141 

it  from  his  mind  as  a  matter  of  duty  performed — extremely  disagreeable, 
perhaps,  but  still  absolutely  necessary  under  the  circumstances.  Six 
months  of  clerical  duty  at  or  in  connection  with  the  office  of  the  Provost 
Marshal  General  might  of  itself  furnish  interesting  matter  for  a  narrative, 
but  could  hardly  be  included  in  a  sketch  like  this.  Suffice  to  say,  that  it 
was  "clerking "  quite  as  much  as  a  similar  position  in  civil  life  would  be, 
and  bore  little  or  no  resemblance  to  real  soldiering.  During  October,  No 
vember  and  part  of  December  the  work  was,  as  previously  described,  con 
fined  to  court-martial  cases,  and  was  done  at  headquarters,  Brandy  Station. 
During  the  latter  part  of  December  I  was  detailed  on  special  duty  as  clerk 
to  an  officer  ordered  to  report  to  Washington,  and  went  thence  to  Norfolk, 
where  I  remained  until  ordered  back  to  the  front. 

Thus  the  Winter  of  1863-  64  passed  pleasantly,  and  my  delightful  six 
months  of  " soft  duty  "  from  October  to  April  was  veritably  the  "calm 
before  the  storm  "  which  ensued  from  May  to  November  of  1864  !  During 
the  last  week  in  March  we  heard  of  the  reorganization  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  in  which  the  First  Corps  was  merged  in  the  Fifth  and  the  Third 
in  the  Second.  This  was  soon  followed  by  a  general  order  requiring  all 
able-bodied  men  on  detached  service  to  report  to  their  commands  in  the 
field.  I  had  got  tired  of  the  Provost  service  and  of  clerical  duty  generally, 
and  so  was  glad  of  a  chance  to  take  the  field.  My  only  regret  for  leaving 
Norfolk  was  that  it  would  necessarily  break  up  an  association  that  had  be 
come  very  pleasant.  However,  yielding  gracefully  to  the  fortune  of  war, 
and  after  a  farewell  visit  to  the  little  girl  across  the  river  in  Portsmouth, 
I  took  a  Government  steamboat  for  Washington,  and  the  next  morning 
arrived  at  Alexandria,  reported  promptly  to  the  officer  of  the  Provost 
guard  and  asked  for  transportation  to  the  front. 

At  this  time  the  troops  were  being  sent  on  partly  by  rail  and  partly  by 
marching.  Many  re-enlisted  veterans  were  returning  at  this  time  from 
their  furloughs,  and  there  were  also  large  numbers  of  "big-bounty"  re 
cruits  from  the  North.  The  former,  as  a  rule,  were  allowed  to  make  the 
best  of  their  way  to  the  front  in  squads,  as  it  was  assumed  that  they  were 
honest  soldiers  and  would  not  desert;  but  the  "bounty-jumpers,"  con 
scripts,  substitutes  and  "  coffee-boilers "  were  sent  forward  under  heavy 
guard,  which  never  let  go  of  them  until  they  were  receipted  for  by  the 
officers  to  whose  commands  they  were  assigned.  The  officer,  finding  my 
destination  to  be  the  Fifth  Corps,  told  me  to  "go  and  fall  in  with  that 
detachment,"  indicating  a  party  some  distance  away  halted  in  the  street. 
Approaching  near  enough  to  these  to  observe  that  they  were  a  gang  of  the 
"recruits  "  above  described,  under  a  strong  guard,  I  returned  to  the  officer 
and  asked  him  to  spare  me  the  humiliation  of  being  marched  to  the  front 
between  files  of  Provost  guards,  calling  his  attention  to  my  descriptive  list 
and  passes,  which  were  good  anywhere  within  the  lines  of  the  Department 
of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  exam 
ined  them,  and  then  said  :  * '  Well,  there  is  a  detachment  of  returning 
veterans  going  down  by  rail  pretty  soon,  and  you  can  go  to  the  depot  and 


142 


THE  CAXXOXEEB. 


join  them.  They  do  not  travel  under  guard."  This  officer,  who  was  a 
very  pleasant  gentleman,  seemed  amused  at  my  earnest  disinclination  to 
join  the  procession  of  bounty-junipers,  and  said  that  "he  could  understand 
why  a  soldier  who  had  always  done  his  duty  and  had  no  intention  of 
deserting  should  dislike  to  be  thrown  into  such  company.  But  we  have  to 
handle  these  men  in  that  way,"  he  continued,  "because  many  of  them 
would  desert  at  the  first  opportunity." 

Making  the  best  of  my  way  to  the  railroad,  I  found  a  train  of  cattle- 
cars  and  common  box-cars,  provided  with  rough  board  seats  or  benches, 
and  pretty  full  of  ' '  returning  veterans, ' '  most  of  whom  were  ' '  pretty  full ' ' 
themselves.  But  I  happened  to  espy  some  familiar  faces  belonging  to  regi 
ments  in  Wadsworth's  Division,  and  so  climbed  into  their  car  and  felt  more 
at  home.  The  next  morning  I  marched  down  to  the  Battery  camp,  reported 
for  duty  and  was  assigned  to  a  team  at  first,  but  soon  after  to  niy  old  post 
of  No.  3.  The  old  fellows  ' '  hazed ' '  me  a  little  to  make  up  for  my  six 
months  of  ' '  soft  duty. ' '  This  ' '  hazing ' '  was  as  follows :  On  returning  to 
the  Battery  my  attire  was  a  natty  tailor-made  uniform  of  "officers'  cloth" 
and  calf-skin  boots,  which  it 
had  been  my  custom  to  wear 
while  on  headquarter's  duty. 
As  soon  as  the  old  fellows 
"got  onto"  this  outfit  they 
immediately  "arrested  me" 
and  convened  a  "court-mar 
tial"  at  the  forage  pile,  be 
fore  which  they  arraigned  me 
with  due  solemnity.  The 
charge  was:  "Conduct  un 
becoming  an  artilleryman." 
The  specifications  were : 

1.  Six  months'  absence  on 
"soft  duty." 

2.  Sleeping  in  a  feather 
bed  so  long  that  he  had  for 
gotten  the  uses  of  an  army 
blanket. 

The  trial  was  rather  sum 
mary,  and  the  accused  was 
found  guilty  on  all  the  specifications. 

He  was  then  sentenced  "to  be  'tossed'  six  times  in  the  aforesaid 
blanket — one  for  each  month  of  absence  —  in  order  to  familiarize  him 
with  an  army  blanket  once  more. ' '  Of  course  there  was  no  use  resisting 
or  appealing  to  the  officers  for  protection,  as  they  never  interfered  with  the 
diversions  of  the  men.  So  I  asked  them  to  find  a  soft  spot  of  ground,  and 
submitted  with  good  grace.  They  did  not  break  any  of  my  bones,  but 
there  were  "feeling  reminders"  of  my  "punishment"  for  several  days. 


DOMESTIC  DISCIPLINE." 


STATE  OF  THE  ARMY.  143 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  this  time  was  at  its  best.  It  was  not  as 
strong  numerically  as  it  had  been  under  Burnside  at  Fredericksburg  or 
under  Hooker  at  Chancellorsville,  but  nearly  all  the  men  were  veterans, 
and  as  a  fighting  machine  it  was  incomparably  superior  to  what  it  ever 
had  been  before.  There  was  much  speculation  among  the  men  as  to  what 
direction  the  army  would  take,  though  every  one  was  satisfied  that  it  would 
be  an  overland  campaign.  Some  thought  we  would  cross  the  Rapidan  at 
and  above  Raccoon  Ford  and  strike  Lee  right  in  the  face  at  Orange  Court 
house,  assaulting  his  works  as  we  came  to  them.  Grant's  known  propen 
sity  to  ' '  move  immediately  upon  your  works ' '  gave  strength  to  this  theory. 
Others  surmised  that  we  would  move  by  way  of  Madison  Courthouse, 
strike  the  Rapidan  at  Liberty  Mills,  and  then  make  a  push  for  Gordons- 
ville  to  get  in  on  Lee's  left  and  rear.  This  the  veterans  said  would  be 
analogous  to  Grant's  strategy  in  the  preliminary  operations  about  Vicks- 
burg.  Still  others — who,  by  the  way,  were  in  the  minority,  though  their 
theory  proved  true — argued  that  "Old  Unconditional  Surrender,"  as  we 
called  him,  would  cross  lower  down,  at  Germania  and  Elley's  Ford,  and 
push  straight  for  Richmond,  which  would  give  Lee  the  choice  of  a  rough- 
and-tumble  in  the  Wilderness  or  a  race  between  the  two  armies,  we  moving 
by  the  way  of  Spottsylvania  and  Hanover  Junction,  while  Lee  would  move 
by  way  of  Louisa  Courthouse  and  Goochland.  It  is  needless  to  remark  that 
Lee  chose  the  "rough-and-tumble  in  the  Wilderness. "  Well,  by  the  1st 
of  May  our  spare  stuff  and  Winter-quarter  plunder  generally  had  been 
accounted  for,  turned  in  and  receipted.  Our  horses  had'all  been  shod 
up,  harness  oiled  and  mended,  wheeled  gear  overhauled,  ammunition 
chests  filled,  and  everything  put  in  campaign  order.  There  had  been 
changes  in  the  Battery;  it  had  received  recruits  during  the  Winter. 
Some  of  the  old  men  belonging  to  the  regiments  of  the  Iron  Brigade 
had  returned  to  their  commands,  as  they  had  re-enlisted.  It  seemed 
that  some  of  the  new  material  was  inferior  to  the  old,  but  between 
the  iron  discipline  that  pervaded  the  army  generally  under  Grant,  and  the 
moral  influence  of  what  remained  of  the  old  class  of  men,  our  new  men 
were  brought  pretty  squarely  into  line. 

The  new  Fifth  Corps,  to  which  we  belonged  after  the  reorganization, 
was  made  up  of  the  old  Fifth  consolidated  into  two  divisions,  with  the  old 
First  similarly  consolidated,  which  made  four  divisions  in  the  new  Fifth. 
The  First  Division,  commanded  by  Gen.  Griffin,  was  made  up  of  old  Fifth 
Corps  troops.  It  was  in  three  brigades,  commanded  respectively  by  Gen. 
Sweitzerj  Gen.  Ayres  and  Gen.  Joseph  J.  Bartlett,  of  New  York.  The 
Second  Division,  old  First  Corps  troops,  commanded  by  Gen.  John  C.  Rob 
inson,  was  also  in  three  brigades,  commanded  respectively  by  Gen.  Leon 
ard,  Gen  Baxter  and  Gen.  Denison.  Denison's  Brigade  was  composed 
exclusively  of  Maryland  troops,  and  had  not  been  with  the  old  First  long 
prior  to  the  consolidation.  They  were  not  with  us  at  Gettysburg.  The 
Third  Divison  was  old  Fifth  Corps  troops,  commanded  by  Gen.  Crawford, 
and  was  in  two  brigades,  under  Gens.  McCandless  and  Fisher,  and 


144  THE  CANNONEER. 

consisted  entirely  of  those  magnificent  veterans,  the  Pennsylvania  Re 
serves.  The  Fourth  Division,  commanded  by  Gen.  Wadsworth,  was  the 
flower  of  the  old  First  Corps,  and  contained  the  old  regiments  with 
which  we  were  most  familiar,  particularly  the  Iron  Brigade  and  Rice's, 
which  had  been  Cutler's  old  brigade  in  the  Gettysburg  campaign. 
Gen.  Bartlett's  Brigade,  of  the  First  Division,  to  which  wTe  were  at 
tached  afterward,  was  also  a  splendid  body  of  men,  consisting  of  seven 
regiments  of  re-enlisted  veterans  from  Maine,  Massachusetts,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Michigan.  This  brigade  had  been  specially  organized 
for  Gen.  Bartlett,  and,  without  disparaging  others,  it  was  an  extraordina 
rily  fine  body  of  troops.  It  was  not  only  one  of  the  largest  brigades  in  the 
army,  numerically,  but  had  in  its  ranks  a  much  greater  percentage  of  re- 
enlisted  veterans  than  any  other.  Its  commander  was  quite  generally 
recognized  as  one  of  the  best  officers  in  the  whole  army,  who  had  risen  to- 
General  rank  from  enlistment  in  the  volunteers.  He  was  young,  hand 
some,  popular,  in  short,  the  beau-ideal  of  a  soldier.  The  detailed  organi 
zation  of  the  new  Fifth  Corps  at  this  time  (May  1)  was  as  follows  : 

PROVOST  GUARD. 
13th  New  York  Battalion,  Maj.  Henry  W.  Rider. 

FIRST  DIVISION. 
Brig.-Gen.  Charles  Griffin. 
First  Brigade  —  Brig.-Gen.  Romeyn  B.  Ayres. 
140th  New  York,  Col.  George  Ryan. 
146th  New  York,  Col.  David  T.  Jenkins. 
91st  Pennsylvania,  Lieut.-Col.  Joseph  H.  Sinex. 
155th  Pennsylvania,  Lieut.-Col.  Alfred  L.  Pearson. 
2d  Regulars,  Companies  B,  C,  F,  H,  I  and  K,  Capt.  James  W.  Long, 
llth  Regulars,  Companies  B,  C,  D,  E,  F  and  G,  1st  Battalion,  Capt. 

Francis  M.  Cooley. 
13th  Regulars,  Companies  A,  B,  C,  D  and  G,  1st  Battalion,  Maj. 

Luther  B.  Bruen. 
13th  Regulars,  Companies  A,  C,  D,  F  and  H,  3d  Battalion,  Maj. 

Luther  B.  Bruen. 

14th  Regulars,  1st  Battalion,  Capt.  E.  McK.  Hudson. 
17th  Regulars,  Companies  A,  C,  D,  G  and  H,  1st  Battalion,  Capt. 

James  F.  Grimes. 

17th  Regulars,  Companies  A,  B  and  C,  3d  Battalion,  Capt.  James  F. 
Grimes. 

Second  Brigade  —  Col.  Japob  B.  Sweitzer. 
9th  Massachusetts,  Col.  Patrick  R.  Guiney. 
33d  Massachusetts,  *  Col.  William  S.  Tilton. 
33d  Massachusetts,  Col.  George  L.  Prescott. 
4th  Michigan,  Lieut.-Col.  George  W.  Lumbard. 
63d  Pennsylvania,  Lieut.-Col.  James  C.  Hull. 

Third  Brigade— Brig.-Gen.  Joseph  J.  Bartlett. 
30th  Maine,  Maj.  Ellis  Spear. 
18th  Massachusetts,  Col.  Joseph  Hayes. 
1st  Michigan,  Lieut.-Col.  William  A.  Throop. 
16th  Michigan,  Maj.  Robert  T.  Elliott. 
44th  New  York,  Lieut.-Col.  Freeman  Conner. 
83d  Pennsylvania,  Col.  O.  S.  Woodward. 
118th  Pennsylvania,  Col.  James  Gwyn. 

*  Second  Company  Massachusetts  Sharpshooters  attached. 


CORPS  ORGANIZATION.  145 

SECOND  DIVISION. 
Brig.-Gen.  John  C.  Robinson. 
First  Brigade  — Col.  Samuel  H.  Leonard. 
16th  Maine,  Col.  Charles  W.  Tilden. 
13th  Massachusetts,  Capt.  Charles  H.  Hovey. 
39th  Massachusetts,  Col.  Phineas  S.  Davis. 
104th  New  York,  Col.  Gilbert  G.  Prey. 

Second*  Brigade—  Brig-.-Gen.  Henry  Baxter. 
12th  Massachusetts,  Col.  James  L.  Bates. 
83d  New  York  (9th  Militia),  Col.  Joseph  A.  Moesch. 
97th  New  York,  Col.  Charles  Wheelock. 
llth  Pennsylvania,  Col.  Richard  Coulter. 
88th  Pennsylvania,  Capt.  George  B.  Rhoads. 
90th  Pennsylvania,  Col.  Peter  Lyle. 

Third  Brigade  —  Col.  Andrew  W.  Denison. 
1st  Maryland,  Maj.  Benjamin  H.  Schley. 
4th  Maryland,  Col.  Richard  N.  Bowerman. 
7th  Maryland,  Col.  Charles  E.  Phelps. 
8th  Maryland,  Lieut.-Col.  John  G.  Johannes. 

THIRD  DIVISION. 
Brig.-Gen.  Samuel  W.  Crawford. 
First  Brigade  — Col.  William  McCandless. 
1st  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  Col.  William  C.  Talley. 
2d  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  Lieut.-Col.  Patrick  McDonough. 
6th  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  Col.  Wellington  H.  Ent. 
7th  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  Maj.  Le  Grand  V.  Speece. 
llth  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  Col.  Samuel  M.  Jackson. 
13th  Pennsylvania  Reserves  (1st  Rifles),  Maj.  W.  R.  Hartshorn. 

Third  Brigade  — Col.  Joseph  W.  Fisher. 
5th  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  Lieut.-Col.  George  Dare. 
8th  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  Col.  Silas  M.  Bailey. 
10th  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  Lieut.-Col.  Ira  Ayer,  Jr. 
12th  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  Lieut.-Col.  Richard  Gustin. 

FOURTH  DIVISION. 
Brig.-Gen.  James  S.  Wadsworth. 
First  Brigade  —  Brig.-Gen.  Lysaiider  Cutler. 
7th  Indiana,  Col.  Ira  G.  Grover. 
19th  Indiana,  Col.  Samuel  J.  Williams. 
24th  Michigan,  Col.  Henry  A.  Morrow. 

1st  New  York  Battalion  Sharpshooters,  Capt.  Volney  J,  Shipman. 
2d  Wisconsin,  Lieut.-Col.  John  Mansfield. 
6th  Wisconsin,  Col.  Edward  S.  Bragg. 
7th  Wisconsin,  Col.  William  W.  Robinson. 

Second  Brigade  —  Brig.-Gen.  James  C.  Rice. 
76th  New  York,  Lieut.-Col.  John  E.  Cook. 
84th  New  York  (14th  Militia),  Col.  Edward  B.  Fowler. 
95th  New  York,  Col.  Edward  Pye. 
147th  New  York,  Col.  Francis  C.  Miller. 
56th  Pennsylvania,  Col.  J.  William  Hofmann. 

Third  Brigade  —  Col.  Roy  Ston&, 
121st  Pennsylvania,  Capt.  Samuel  T.  Lloyd. 
142d  Pennsylvania,  Maj.  Horatio  N.  Warren. 
143d  Pennsylvania,  Col.  Edmund  L.  Dana. 
149th  Pennsylvania,  Lieut.-Col.  John  Irvin. 
150th  Pennsylvania,  Capt.  George  W.  Jones. 
10 


146  THE  CANNONEER. 

Artillery  Brigade  — Col.  Charles  S.  Wainwright. 
*3d  Massachusetts  Battery,  Capt.  Augustus  P.  Martin. 
*5th  Massachusetts  Battery,  Capt.  Charles  A.  Phillips. 
*lst  New  York  Light,  Battery  D,  Capt.  George  B.  Winslow. 
1 1st  New  York  Light,  Batteries  E  and  L,  Lieut.  George  Breck. 
1 1st  New  York  Light,  Battery  H,  Capt.  Charles  E.  Mink. 

4th  New  York  Heavy,  3d  Battalion,  Maj.  William  Arthur. 
i  1st  Pennsylvania  Light,  Battery  B,  Capt.  James  H.  Cooper. 
1 4th  Regulars,  Battery  B,  Capt.  James  Stewart. 
:*5th  Regulars,  Battery  D,  Lieut.  B.  F.  Rittenhouse. 

The  Artillery  Brigade  of  the  new  Fifth  Corps  consisted  of  eight  bat 
teries,  being  those  of  the  old  First  and  Fifth  together,  of  which  six  were 
volunteer  and  two  Regular.  The  Regular  batteries  were  ours  and  Ritten- 
house's  (D  of  the  5th  Regulars).  The  Chief  of  Artillery  of  the  corps  was 
Gen.  Wainwright,  who  had  held  the  same  position  in  the  old  First  Corps. 
The  volunteer  batteries  were  Martin's  and  Phillips's  3d  and  5th  Massa 
chusetts,  Winslow's,  Breck's  and  Mink's  New  Yorkers  and  Cooper's  old 
1st  Pennsylvania.  Of  these  Mink's,  Breck's  and  Cooper's  had  been  with 
us  in  the  old  First  Corps,  Breck's  being  the  battery  that  had  formerly 
been  known  as  Reynolds 's.  The  two  Maine  batteries  that  had  been  with 
us  in  the  First  Corps — Hall's  2d  and  Stevens's  5th — had  not  come  into 
the  new  Fifth  Corps,  but  had  been  transferred,  Hall's  to  the  Ninth  Corps 
and  Stevens's,  which  had  been  home  during  the  Winter  to  "veteranize," 
had  been  put  into  the  Reserve  Artillery.  We  were  sorry  to  lose  Stevens's 
Battery,  because  it  had  been  shoulder  to  shoulder  —  or,  as  artillerymen  say, 
^'hub  to  hub  "  — with  us  for  nearly  two  years,  and  was  one  of  the  very 
best  volunteer  batteries  in  the  army.  It  had  no  superior,  and  but  few 
equals,  Regular  or  volunteer. 

A  close  fellowship  always  prevailed  between  the  battery  men  of  an 
artillery  brigade,  similar  to  that  between  companies  in  the  same  regiment. 
They  were  usually  camped  together  at  or  near  corps  headquarters,  and 
were  commanded  by  a  Chief  of  Artillery,  who  reported  directly  to  and  re 
ceived  orders  direct  from  the  Corps  Commander.  In  the  old  First  Corps 
ours  had  been  the  only  Regular  Battery  in  the  Artillery  Brigade,  but  now 
Rittenhouse's  (D  of  the  5th)  was  with  us.  This  was  a  distinguished  bat 
tery.  It  was  Griffin's  old  battery,  and  enjoyed  the  rare  distinction  of 
having  been  in  action  at  the  First  Bull  Run.  It  had  done  yeoman  service 
in  the  Peninsular  campaign  under  Capt.  Kingsbury,  where  it  had  been 
mentioned  in  nearly  every  battle  report.  Its  men  always  claimed  that 
they  had  captured  the  flag  of  an  Alabama  regiment  in  one  of  the  Seven 
Days'  battles  in  front  of  Richmond,  but  that  it  had  been  stolen  by  the  in 
fantry  regiment  that  was  supporting  them,  and  the  infantry  received  credit 
for  it  in  the  official  reports.  Their  story  was  that  they  were  charged  by 
this  Alabama  regiment  and  broke  it  all  to  pieces  with  their  canister  about 
100  feet  from  their  muzzles,  the  remnants  fleeing  in  such  confusion  that 
they  left  their  colors  lying  on  the  ground  in  front  of  Battery  D.  But  some 

*Old  Fifth  Corps  Batteries. 
tOld  First  Corps  Batteries. 


GRIFFIN'S  OLD  BATTERY.  147 

of  the  infantry,  who  were  lying  down  in  line  with  them,  ran  out  and 
picked  up  this  flag  and  then  claimed  it  as  their  own  capture,  though  they 
had  not  pulled  a  trigger,  and  the  Rebel  charge  had  been  repulsed  by  the 
battery  alone.  If  Battery  D  had  been  properly  credited  with  the  capture 
of  this  stand  of  colors  it  would  have  been  a  unique  distinction,  as  there 
was  no  similar  case  recorded  on  either  side  during  the  whole  war. 

There  is  also  official  evidence  that  Battery  D  was  entitled  to  the  honor 
of  having  captured  these  colors.  Gen.  Fitz- John  Porter,  in  a  special  memo 
randum  dated  Headquarters  Fifth  Army  Corps,  July  8,  1862,  and  ad 
dressed  to  the  Conimauder-in-Chief,  says  : 

I  desire  to  state  that  another  flag-  was  taken  by  a  regiment  of  Couch's  Di 
vision  at  the  battle  of  Malvern  Hill  from  a  Rebel  regiment  which  had  been 
already  cut  to  pieces  by  the  destructive  fire  of  Kingsbury's  Battery.  This  flag 
is  properly  a  trophy  of  this  battery,  although  it  is  held  and  claimed  by  the 
above-named  regiment  of  Couch's  Division. 

Rittenhouse's  Battery  was  a  very  fine  organization.  It  was  manned, 
the  same  as  ours,  largely  by  detached  volunteers,  but  mainly  New  Eng- 
lauders,  New  Yorkers  and  Pennsylvanians,  while  ours  were  mostly  Western 
men  from  Wisconsin,  Indiana  and  Michigan,  with  only  a  few  New  Yorkers. 
Its  esprit  du  corps  ran  very  high,  and  a  sharp  rivalry  naturally  sprung  up 
between  them  and  us.  It  was,  however,  a  generous  and  good-natured  ri 
valry,  never  resulting  in  any  personal  difficulties,  though  some  debates 
about  the  prowess  of  our  respective  batteries  were  pretty  animated.  At 
this  time  (May,  1864,)  Battery  D  had  doubtless  been  in  a  greater  number 
of  actions  than  Stewart's  had  ;  but  it  had  never  faced  such  "music  by  the 
full  band  "  as  old  B  faced  at  the  Antietam  Cornfield,  or  even  at  the  Gettys 
burg  Railroad  Cut,  excepting,  of  course,  the  First  Bull  Run,  where  it  was 
nearly  destroyed  as  to  its  personnel,  and  lost  all  its  guns.  It  was  in  a 
pretty  hot  place  on  Little  Round  Top  at  Gettysburg  also,  as  noted  in  a 
previous  chapter.  Its  principal  laurels  up  to  this  time  had  been  won  in 
the  Peninsular  campaign,  where  it  belonged  to  Fitz-John  Porter's  Corps, 
and  was  held  by  that  corps  in  much  the  same  estimation  as  Stewart's  Bat 
tery  was  held  by  the  old  First  Corps.  But  with  all  the  record  of  Griffin's 
Battery,  there  was  nothing  in  its  history  to  compare  with  the  terrific  and 
almost  incredible  fight  that  old  B  made  in  front  of  the  Cornfield  at  Antie 
tam,  which  statement  is  equally  true  of  every  other  battery  in  the  army. 

Battery  D  was  armed  with  the  10-pounder  Parrott,  which  was  always 
considered  inferior  to  the  three-inch  rifle.  The  Parrott  rifles  were  made  on 
a  bad  plan,  l:»eing  of  cast  iron,  with  a  wrought-iron  band  shrunk  on  over 
the  breech.  They  frequently  broke  off  just  forward  of  this  reinforce,  and 
sometimes  blew  up  with  fatal  results  to  their  Cannoneers.  But  a  12-pounder 
Napoleon  or  a  three-inch  wrought-iron  rifle  was  never  known  to  blow  up. 
If  anything  could  justify  desertion  by  a  Cannoneer  it  would  be  an  assign 
ment  to  a  Parrott  battery  !  However,  Griffin's  boys  managed  to  get  a  great 
deal  of  glory  out  of  those  abominable  old  Parrott  guns  they  had  from  Bull 
Run  to  Appomattox,  under  Griffin  himself,  or  Kingsbury,  or  Hazlett,  or 
Eittenhouse,  or  Rawles,  one  time  or  another. 


148  THE  CANNONEER. 

On  the  Regular  Army  list  John  Gibbon  was  still  Captain  of  Battery  Br 
while  Charles  Griffin  held  the  same  relation  to  Battery  D;  but  both  batteries 
were  actually  commanded  by  their  Lieutenants,  while  the  two  Captains 
were  both  Major-Generals  of  volunteers  —  Griffin  commanding  a  division 
in  our  own  corps  and  Gibbon  a  division  in  the  Second  Corps,  and  both  after 
ward  commanding  army  corps.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  there  must  have  been  a  sharp  rivalry  between  two  such  batteries,  each 
having  a  brilliant  record  of  its  own.  But  very  few  names  of  the  men  in  Grif 
fin's  old  Battery  linger  in  my  memory.  The  officers  I  recollect  are  Kings- 
bury,  Hazlett,  Rittenhouse,  Van  Reed,  Catlin  and  Rawles.  Of  the  men  I 
can  recall  only  Ord.  Serg't  Tom  Broderick,  one  of  the  handsomest  soldiers 
in  the  army  ;  Serg't  Grady  and  a  few  of  the  Cannoneers  —  Crocker,  Hyatt 
and  two  or  three  more.  But  my  recollection  of  details  of  all  kinds  as  a 
veteran  is  much  less  vivid  than  when  a  new  recruit.  Rittenhouse  and 
Stewart  were  warm  friends,  having  a  common  bond  of  sympathy  in  that 
neither  of  them  was  a  West  Pointer,  the  Old  Man  having  been  promoted 
from  the  ranks,  as  before  related,  and  Rittenhouse  having  been  appointed 
from  civil  life  upon  the  organization  of  the  5th  Artillery  in  1861. 

We  could  always  see  that  there  was  something  lacking  in  the  behavior 
of  West  Pointers  toward  rankers,  or  officers  appointed  from  civil  life. 
They  would  be  courteous  enough  and  all  that,  but  it  was  plain  that  they 
considered  themselves  superior  beings,  and  their  manner  toward  those  who 
had  not  been  l '  anointed ' '  at  the  Military  Academy  was  supercilious  and 
patronizing  —  sometimes  in  a  painful  degree. 

Battery  D  had  a  much  larger  complement  than  we  had.  On  May  lr 
1864,  they  could  not  have  had  less  than  150  or  156  men  present  for  duty 
with  four  commissioned  officers,  while  we  had  only  about  110  to  112  men 
with  two  officers — and  one  of  those  was  Lieut.  Goodman,  a  volunteer  offi 
cer  from  one  of  the  Jersey  batteries,  temporarily  assigned  for  duty  with 
us  in  consequence  of  the  absence  of  Lieut.  Mitchell,  who  was  on  sick  leave. 
The  boys  of  Battery  D  used  to  poke  fun  at  us  for  being  so  short-handed, 
and  plumed  themselves  on  the  fact  that  their  battery  could  always  keep 
its  ranks  full  and  that  they  had  their  pick  of  the  entire  Fifth  Corps  for  de 
tached  volunteers,  while  we  had  difficulty  in  getting  recruits  of  any  kind 
enough  to  make  good  our  battle  casualties.  To  this  we  used  to  retort  that 
it  was  no  wonder  that  detached  service  in  Battery  D  was  popular  with  the 
infantrymen  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  because  its  battle  records  showed  that 
that  battery  was  a  very  safe  place  to  be  in  !  Whereas  the  record  of  our 
Battery  showed  that  most  of  its  fighting  was  done  on  the  skirmish  line,  and 
that  it  was  always  where  it  "  got  the  butt-end  of  the  shillalah  "  in  every 
battle  !  On  this  point  we  used  to  compare  notes,  from  which  it  appeared 
that,  with  all  its  fighting  and  all  the  official  mentions  it  got  for  distin 
guished  services,  Battery  D  had  lost  in  the  whole  Peninsular  campaign 
only  16  men ;  Second  Bull  Run,  two ;  Antietam,  none  ;  Fredericksburg, 
none ;  Chancellorsville,  none,  and  Gettysburg,  20,  a  total  of  38  from  the 
Spring  of  1862  to  the  Spring  of  1864,  as  against  our  loss  of  44  in  the  single 


COMPAKATIVE    RECOKDS.  149 

battle  of  Antietam !  Notwithstanding  the  ghastly  nature  of  the  subject, 
there  was  something  comical  in  the  spectacle  of  the  young  soldiers  of  these 
two  rival  batteries,  the  most  distinguished  in  the  army,  discussing  their 
fighting  and  "staying"  qualities,  and  earnestly  "making  profert, "  as 
lawyers  would  say,  of  their  ' '  butchers'  bills ' '  as  arguments  of  suprem 
acy.  Another  boast  of  the  boys  of  Battery  D  was  the  number  of  Generals 
and  subordinate  officers  who  had  been  promoted  from  it.  This  list  in 
cluded,  at  that  time,  Gen.  Charles  Griffin,  Gen.  Alexander  S.  Webb  and 
Gen.  Adelbert  Ames ;  Maj.  Alexander  Piper,  Maj.  and  Lieut. -Col. 
Simonds,  transferred  to  the  Commissary  Department ;  Col.  Horatio  Reed, 
promoted  to  command  a  volunteer  cavalry  regiment.  From,  the  ranks  were 
promoted  Ord.  Serg't  John  Malone,  who  became  Captain  and  Acting  Ord 
nance  Officer  of  Buford's  Cavalry  Division ;  Serg't  Connelly,  Serg't  Sam 
Peeples,  Serg't  John  Murphy  and  Serg't  Fred  Robinson  (who  will  be  fur 
ther  mentioned  in  this  volume).  This  roster  of  three  Generals  and  two 
Colonels  promoted  from  the  officers,  and  five  Lieutenants  from  the  ranks  of 
one  battery,  is  something  to  be  proud  of,  considering  the  kind  of  Generals 
that  Griffin  and  Webb  were  and  the  sort  of  officers  that  the  rankers  be 
came.  Our  Battery  could  show  up  but  one  General,  Gibbon;  while 
Stewart,  Santmyer  and  Mitchell  had  been  promoted  from  the  ranks  in  the 
Regulars.  But  we  had  Ira  Slawson  and  William  Hogarty,  of  the  23d  New 
York ;  Job  Driggs,  Charley  Jenks  and  Henry  Klinefelter,  promoted  from 
among  the  Wisconsin  detached  volunteers;  while  of  the  Old  Regulars  Serg't 
Fred  Chapin,  discharged  in  June,  1863,  received  a  volunteer  commission 
in  the  early  part  of  1864  ;  Capt.  Joseph  B.  Campbell  received  an  important 
staff  appointment  after  being  disabled  at  Antietam,  and  Lieutenant  Mar 
cus  P.  Miller  was  detached  to  command  Battery  G,  of  the  4th  Regulars, 
and  was  promoted  to  a  full  Captaincy  in  the  regiment  in  1864. 

As  for  the  volunteer  batteries  in  the  Artillery  Brigade  of  the  new  Fifth 
Corps,  namely,  Martin's  3d  Massachusetts,  Phillip's  5th  Massachusetts 
and  Winslow's  (D)  1st  New  York,  from  the  old  Fifth ;  and  Mink's  (H) 
1st  New  York,  Breck's — formerly  Reynolds's  —  (L)  1st  New  York,  and 
Cooper's  (B)  1st  Pennsylvania,  from  the  old  First,  they  were  all  first-class 
and  quite  worthy  to  lie  in  such  distinguished  company.  These  volunteer 
batteries  had  all  been  recruited  up  during  the  Winter,  and  all  but  one  of 
them — Martin's  3d  Massachusetts — had  "veteranized."  Mink's  had  a 
smaller  complement  present  for  duty  than  any  of  the  others,  its  force 
not  being  much  over  100,  or  about  the  same  as  ours.  The  others  had  from 
125  to  140  each.  There  was  so  little  difference  in  the  quality  of  those  vol 
unteer  batteries  that  special  mention  would  be  unfair ;  but  for  good  com 
radeship  in  camp  or  bivouac,  staying  quality  on  the  field  of  battle,  and 
other  attributes  of  true  soldiers,  it  is  necessary  to  say  that  Charley  Mink 
and  his  "comrades"  used  to  "keep  their  end  up  quite  even"  all  the 
time,  and  occasionally  a  little  ahead.  Their  discipline  was  pretty  lax, 
judged  according  to  Regular  standards,  and  in  camp  they  were  more 
like  a  family  than  like  a  battery.  Their  enlisted  men  were  frequently 


150  THE  CANNONEER. 

heard  to  address  Capt.  Mink  as  "Charley,"  which  familiarity  he  seemed 
to  like  instead  of  resenting  it,  and  every  day  he  could  be  heard  arguing, 
expostulating  and  reasoning  with  his  men  in  cases  where  almost  any  other 
Captain  would  have  peremptorily  ordered  instant  obedience  or  perhaps 
inflicted  punishment.  But,  notwithstanding  these  easy-going  methods  in 
camp,  Mink's  boys  would  all  obey  him  in  the  field  and  stand  by  him  in 
battle  quite  equal  to  those  of  any  other  battery  in  the  army. 

The  armament  of  the  eight  batteries  was  as  follows:  Stewart's  (B)  4th 
Eegulars,  Mink's  (H)  and  Winslow's  (D)  1st  New  York  and  Martin's  3d 
Massachusetts,  each  six  12-pounder  Napoleons ;  Breck's  (L)  1st  New  York, 
Cooper's  (B)  1st  Pennsylvania  and  Phillips's  5th  Massachusetts,  each  six 
three-inch  Rodman  rifles ;  Rittenhouse's  (D)  5th  Regulars,  six  10-pounder 
Parrott  rifles.  Prior  to  this  time  it  had  been  the  policy  to  have  a  greater 
number  of  rifle  batteries  than  of  Napoleons  or  12-pounder  smooth-bores  in 
an  artillery  brigade.  But  in  the  new  Fifth  Corps  Brigade,  which  wras  con 
sidered  an  ideal  organization,  the  proportions  were  exactly  equal.  This 
arrangement  wras  due  to  the  foresight  of  Gen.  Hunt,  Chief  of  Artillery,  who, 
knowing  that  the  campaign  was  to  be  overland  and  that  much  of  the  oper 
ations  would  necessarily  be  conducted  in  a  country  unfavorable  for  long- 
range  artillery  work,  had  reduced  the  proportion  of  rifled  guns  and  in 
creased  that  of  the  12-pounder  smooth-bores.  The  total  strength  of  the 
Fifth  Corps  Brigade  on  May  1,  1864,  was  eight  batteries,  48  guns  and  1,196 
men  present  for  duty  equipped,  besides  4  companies  of  the  4th  New  York 
Heavy.  Like  all  the  rest  of  the  army,  Battery  B  had  undergone  considerable 
changes  of  personnel  during  the  preceding  Winter.  Many  of  the  detached 
volunteers  from  the  2d,  6th  and  7th  "Wisconsin  and  nearly  all  those  from 
the  19th  Indiana  had  returned  to  their  regiments ;  in  fact,  as  well  as  I  can 
remember,  there  were  but  two  of  the  Indiana  volunteers  remaining  with 
the  Battery  on  May  1,  1864,  Corp'l  John  W.  Knight  and  Blacksmith 
Pete  Casper.  The  men  from  the  24th  Michigan  nearly  all  remained,  to 
gether  with  the  New  Yorkers  who  joined  in  1863  from  February  to  Novem 
ber.  Of  the  Wisconsin  men,  about  30  were  still  present.  The  rest  of  the 
complement  were  men  who  had  been  assigned  to  the  Battery  in  January, 
1864,  and  they  were  mostly  Regulars,  or,  as  they  were  called,  the  "New 
Regulars,"  to  distinguish  them  from  the  "Old  Regulars"  who  had  been 
with  the  Battery  before  the  war.  In  order  that  these  different  classes  of 
men  may  be  distinguished,  a  roll  is  herewith  given,  with  certain  initials 
marked  opposite  each  man's  name.  "  O.  R. "  means  Old  Regular ;  "  N.  R. , " 
New  Regular  ;  "W.  V.,"  Wisconsin  Volunteer;  "I.  V.,"  Indiana  Volun 
teer;  "M.V.,"  Michigan  Volunteer ;  "N.  Y.  V.,"  New  York  Volunteer, 
and  "P.  V.,"  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  : 

Captain— James  Stewart,  O.  R.  Sergeants— Edgar  B.  Armstrong,  W.  V. 

Lieutenant— John  Mitchell,  O.  R.  (ab-  James  Maher,  O.  R. 

sent,  sick).  Edgar  A.  Thorpe,  W.  V. 

Lieutenant— Thomas  Goodman  (tempo-  Robert  Moore,  O.  R. 

rary),  Jersey  volunteer.  Henry  Moore,  O.  R. 

Orderly  Sergeant— And' w  McBride,  O.  R.  Jno.  B.  Sanborn,W.  V.  (act). 


BATTEEY  ROLL. 


151 


Corporals—  Elbridge  G.  Packard,W.V.  Corporals— John  McLaughlin,  W.  V. 
Charles  Harris,  W.  V.  John  Dolphin,  W.  V. 

John  Knight,  I.  V.  Alphonso  Collins,  W.  V,. 

Patrick  W.  Folliss,  N.  R.  Bugler— Johnny  Cook,  O.  R. 

James  W.  Moore,  W.  V.  Artificers— Ferd  Dettloff,  W.  V. 
Richard  Tea,  O.  R.  John  A.  Goeb,  O.  R. 

Frank  Blair,  W.  V.  John  Doran,  N.  R. 

James  Lewis,  W.  V.  Andrew  Delaney,  N.  Y.  VY 

Peter  Casper,  I.  V. 


Cannoneers  and  Drivers- 
Daniel  Ackerman,  W.  V. 
Peter  Andrews,  P.  V. 
John  C.  Barthe,  N.  Y.  V. 
Henry  Beecham.,  W.  V. 
Peter  Bateway,  M.  V. 
Henry  C.  Brown,  M.  V. 
Herman  Burkitt,  N.  R. 
Ben  F.  Cooper,  N.  Y.  V. 
Thomas  M.  Clarke,  W.  V. 
Charles  Daniels,  N.  R. 
Lawrence  Dowling,  W.  V. 
Thomas  Fitzpatrick,  N.  R. 
John  Fulton,  W.  V. 
Maitland  J.  Freeman,  W.  V.  (Corp'l.) 
Warren  Givens,  N.  R. 
Edward  Gore,  M.  V. 
William  Harvey,  1st,  N.  R. 
William  Harvey,  2d,  N.  R. 
William  Hartley,  N.  R. 
Albert  Hunt,  W.  V. 
Fred  Hubbard,  N.  Y.  V. 
Louis  Jerome,  N.  R. 
Anson  Jillson,  N.  Y.  V. 
Thomas  Kelley,  N.  R. 
Frank  Kellogg,  M.  V. 
Frank  McCormick,  N.  Y.  V. 
Thomas  Maloney,  N.  R. 
John  McDermott,  M.  V. 
George  Oakley,  M.  V. 
William  Obst,  M.  V. 
Thomas  Price,  W.  V. 
Horace  Ripley,  W.  V. 
Wilder  Robinson,  N.  Y.  V. 
Frank  Root,  N.  Y.  V. 
Daniel  Shemmell,  W.  V. 


Cannoneers  and  Drivers- 
Henry  Adey,  N.  Y.  V. 
Henry  Arnst,  N.  R. 
William  Bartholomew,  W.  V. 
Theodore  Bache,  M.  V. 
Lyman  Blakeley,  M.  V. 
George  C.  Bowers,  N.  R. 
Henry  Burkhardt,  W.  V. 
Patrick  Colgan,  N.  R. 
Seymour  Colby,  W.  V. 
JayDeGraff,N.  R. 
Anthony  Ebert,  M.  V. 
Henry  Foster,  W.  V. 
Charles  Fulton,  W.  V. 
William  Funk,  M.  V. 
William  J.  Gleason,  W.  V. 
Theodore  Grover,  M.  V. 
James  Gunsollis,  M.  V. 
Henry  C.  Hill,  N.  R. 
William  Hutchinson,  N.R. 
William  Hinman,  W.  V. 
William  Irving,  M.  V. 
Preston  Johnson,  W.  V. 
John  Johnson,  W.  V. 
William  Kelley,  N.  R. 
John  Maddice,  N.  R. 
Napoleon  B.  Milton,  N.  R. 
Martin  McNamara,  N.  R. 
Robert  Morris,  M.  V. 
John  Orth,  M.  V. 
Edward  O'Brien,  N.  R. 
JohnPattee,M.  V. 
Robert  Reed.  M.  V. 
Edwin  Rhodes,  N.  Y.  V. 
John  Small,  W.  V. 
David  Smith,  W.  V. 


Ben  Stillman,  W.  V.  (rejoined  May  9).    Gustavus  Saxey,  N.  R. 


Frank  Steinmuller,  N.  R. 
John  Smith,  1st,  N.  R. 
John  Smith,  2d,  N.  R. 
William  Thornton,  M.  V. 
Morris  Vanderpool,  N.  R. 
Isaac  Vandicar,  M.  V. 
Winfleld  S.  Williams,  W.  V. 
Peter  Williams,  N.  R. 
John  Willsey,  O.  R. 


Samuel  Starke,  N.  R. 
Frank  Smith,  N.  R. 
Albert  Schwanecke,  N.  R. 
Fred  Volker,  N.  R. 
William  Voss,  N.  R. 
Abram  Velie,  M.  V. 
Mike  Williams,  N.  R. 
Andrew  Wilkeson,  W.  V. 
George  Walker,  M.  V. 


The  Author,  N.  Y.  V. 
Lieut.  Mitchell,  Private  Ben  Stillman  and  three  or  four  more  were 


152  THE  CANNONEER. 

absent  on  May  1  and  rejoined  the  Battery  at  various  times  during  the 
period  from  May  5  to  June  5.  This  is  a  total  of  three  officers,  18  non 
commissioned  officers  and  96  privates,  and  of  these  one  officer  and  four  or 
five  men  were  temporarily  absent.  So  the  Battery  crossed  the  Rapidan 
May  4, 1864,  with  two  officers  and  about  111  or  112  men  for  duty,  of  whom 
•only  eight  besides  the  Captain  were  Old  Regulars^  32  Wisconsin  Volun 
teers,  23  Michigan  Volunteers,  36  New  Regulars,  nine  New  York  Volun 
teers  and  two  Indiana  Volunteers.  It  will  be  observed  from  this  roster  that 
all  the  Old  Regulars  besides  the  Bugler,  Johnny  Cook,  were  non-commissioned 
officers  except  John  Willsey.  John  had  been  a  Sergeant,  but  in  the  Fall  of 
1863  he  undertook  to  visit  his  home  without  the  trifling  formality  of  a  fur 
lough.  He  succeeded,  and  not  even  the  most  vigilant  Provost  Marshal 
was  able  to  catch  him.  But  when  Mr.  Lincoln  offered  amnesty  to  all  de 
serters  who  would  return  to  their  commands  within  a  stated  period,  John 
quietly  walked  into  camp  one  morning,  informed  Ord.  Serg'tMcBride  that 
lie  would  report  for  duty,  and  if  there  was  no  objection  he  would  resume 
command  of  his  old  gun.  But  when  Stewart's  attention  was  called  to  the 
matter,  he  said  that  after  John  had  served  as  a  private  long  enough  to 
make  good  the  time  lost  by  absence  without  leave,  they  would  have  a  talk 
about  the  gun — but  not  now.  John  did  not  get  his  chevrons  back  again 
until  late  in  the  Fall.  Stewart  was  as  good. as  his  word.  As  soon  as  the 
old  Utah  veteran  had  made  up  his  lost  time  he  got  his  gun  back  again. 
John  Willsey  was  a  fine  soldier,  but  a  little  erratic. 

The  effective  strength  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  infantry  and  artil 
lery,  on  May  1  was  as  follows,  according  to  a  memorandum  compiled  in 
the  office  of  the  Adjutant-General  from  the  field  returns  of  April  30: 

Officers.          Men.  Total. 

Second  Corps 1,336  27,007  28,333 

Fifth  Corps 1,240  24,423  25,663 

Sixth  Corps 1,048  23,165  24,213 

Total  Army  of  the  Potomac  proper  78,209 

Ninth  Corps 968  21,794  22,762 

There  were  also  193  officers  and  5,491  men  attached  to  army  headquar 
ters —  Staff,  Engineers,  Provost  guards,  Orderlies,  etc.,  and  the  cavalry 
numbered  609  officers  and  12,678  men,  or  13,287  in  all. 

The  commander  of  the  new  Fifth  Corps,  Maj.-Gen.  Gouverneur  Kemble 
Warren,  was  one  of  the  noblest  men  that  ever  lived.  He  was  not  only  a 
most  accomplished  officer  and  a  brave  soldier,  but  kind  hearted  as  well, 
and  it  was  to  be  said  of  him — which  unfortunately  could  not  always  be 
said  of  Generals — that  he  never  forgot  that  private  soldiers  were  men  and 
that  they  had  feelings  and  spirits  quite  as  acute  and  sensitive  as  those  who 
wore  shoulder  straps.  The  veterans  of  the  old  First  Corps  did  not  at  the 
start  relish  the  idea  of  the  organization  they  had  made  so  famous  being 
•wiped  out  of  existence,  but  they  soon  got  accustomed  to  this  new  situation, 
.and  after  a  fight  or  two  vied  with  their  comrades  of  the  old  Fifth  in  esprit 
du  corps. 

In  the  Spring  of  1864  there  was  a  new  style  of  discipline,  or  rather  a 


GENERAL  GRANT'S  SYSTEM.  153 

new  state  of  feeling,  among  the  men.  Things  were  more  strict  and  meth 
ods  more  regular  among  the  volunteers ;  in  fact,  the  whole  army  had 
become  like  Regulars.  Gen.  Grant  had  made  a  profound  impression  on 
the  rank  and  file.  The  eclat  of  his  great  achievements  in  the  West ;  his 
plain,  unassuming  appearance,  his  habit  of  going  around  among  the  camps 
frequently,  and  above  all  the  rumors  that  he  was  occasionally  subject  to  the 
besetting  frailty  of  the  soldier,  all  tended  to  popularize  him  with  the  men. 

There  was  also  a  different  method  of  estimating  the  enemy  in  vogue. 
All  through  the  early  history  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  the  habit  of  its 
commanding  officers  was  to  exaggerate  the  strength  of  Lee's  army.  As 
soldiers  always  get  their  impressions  on  such  matters  from  their  officers,  it 
is  apparent  that  it  must  have  been  the  policy  of  the  earlier  commanders  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  to  exaggerate  the  numbers  of  the  enemy,  with 
a  view,  no  doubt,  to  explain  their  frequent  defeats  or  to  excuse  the  butch 
eries  that  resulted  from  their  incompetency.  But  now  all  this  was  changed. 
We  men  in  the  ranks  were  informed  that  the  Rebel  army,  though  still  strong 
no  doubt,  and  very  desperate,  was  inferior  to  us  in  numbers  and  equip 
ment,  and  that  we  were  expected  to  wind  up  its  career  that  Summer. 

Long  after  the  war — in  fact,  after  he  had  left  the  Presidential  chair — 
I  had  a  talk  with  Gen.  Grant  about  this  matter.  He  told  me  that  he  took 
pains  to  have  the  troops  correctly  informed  as  to  the  strength  and  equip 
ment  of  the  enemy  ;  that  when  the  army  crossed  the  Rapidan  he  knew  very 
nearly  how  many  men  Lee  had  and  what  their  condition  was  ;  that  the  only 
mistake  he  made  was  in  supposing  that  Pickett's  Division  was  present  with 
Longstreet's  Corps  at  Gordonsville,  which  he  said  was  a  natural  supposi 
tion,  as  Spring  had  opened,  and  the  Confederate  commander  could  not  help 
knowing  that  our  army  would  soon  attack  him,  and,  therefore,  he  would 
l)e  likely  to  have  all  his  troops  present.  So  Gen.  Grant  said  he  took  pains 
to  have  his  men  informed  that  the  enemy  was  inferior  to  them.  He  said 
it  was  suicidal  for  a  commander  to  exaggerate  the  force  of  the  enemy  ;  that 
it  tended  to  depress  the  spirits  of  the  troops  ;  that  it  was  the  best  policy, 
particularly  with  so  intelligent  a  body  of  men  as  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
was,  to  let  them  know  the  exact  truth  as  near  as  it  could  be  ascertained, 
so  that  they  might  know  approximately  the  work  that  was  cut  out  for 
them,  and  nerve  themselves  to  its  proper  performance. 

Gen.  Grant  on  this  occasion  added  that,  while  he  knew  that  Lee's 
army  was  inferior  to  ours  in  numbers  and  equipment,  he  did  not  under 
rate  the  terrific  fighting  power  that  they  still  possessed,  nor  the  vast 
advantage  which  they  derived  from  the  fact  that  they  were  fighting  on 
their  own  soil,  in  a  difficult  country  among  a  friendly  populace,  and  above 
all,  with  an  intimate  personal  knowledge  of  roads,  fords,  etc.,  which  our 
commanders  could  only  get  by  reconnoissances  or  from  maps,  which  were 
often  defective.  He  told  me  also  that,  as  matter  of  preference,  he  did  not 
want  to  fight  a  great  battle  in  the  tangled  underbrush  of  the  Wilderness, 
but  hoped  to  get  out  into  the  more  open  country  south  of  Spottsylvania 
before  Lee  could  strike  the  flank  of  his  column.  Still,  he  said,  he  knew  he 


154  THE   CANNONEER. 

would  have  to  fight  in  the  Wilderness  if  Lee  moved  against  his  flank 
promptly,  which  was  a  chance  he  had  to  take  and  for  which  he  was  pre 
pared  ;  but  that  he  partly  expected  that  Lee,  when  he  saw  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  moving  to  cross  the  Eapidan  by  the  more  easterly  fords,  would 
push  out  from  Orange  Courthouse  and  Gordonsville  by  the  roads  following 
generally  the  north  bank  of  the  North  Anna  River,  with  a  view  to  the 
protection  of  the  Virginia  Central  and  Richmond  &  Fredericksburg  Rail 
roads  from  that  position.  This,  Gen.  Grant  said,  would  have  been  Lee's 
true  strategy  if  he  had  felt  sure  of  the  strength  of  his  army  to  meet  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  in  the  open. 

He  (Gen.  Grant)  had  studied  the  whole  situation  carefully,  and  so  when 
he  saw  Lee  moving  rapidly  by  the  pike  and  plank  roads  to  strike  him  in 
the  Wilderness,  it  proved  to  him  that  Lee  was  sensible  of  the  comparative 
weakness  of  his  force,  and  hence,  like  the  great  General  he  was,  he  sought 
to  make  up  for  his  numerical  inferiority  by  forcing  a  fight  on  ground  like 
the  Wilderness,  where  superiority  of  numbers  and  equipment  would  be  of 
least  value.  Gen.  Grant  said  he  kneAV  that  the  Confederacy  could  be  con 
quered  only  by  destroying  Lee's  army  as  a  military  organization,  and 
hence  he  desired,  if  possible,  to  draw  it  out  into  open  country  where  he 
could  get  the  most  benefit  of  his  superior  numbers  in  assaulting  or  out 
flanking  its  positions,  as  occasion  might  require.  But  he  said  he  was  not 
wholly  master  of  the  situation  ;  that  his  army  could  move  only  a  certain 
distance  per  day,  and  that  if  Lee  moved  rapidly  enough  to  strike  his  flank 
before  he  could  get  clear  of  the  Wilderness,  of  course  he  would  have  to 
fight  there.  It  was,  he  said,  a  contingency  which  he  wanted  to  avoid  if  he 
could,  but  which  he  was  prepared  to  make  the  best  of  if  it  was  forced  on 
him — \vhich  was  the  case.  This  conversation  took  place  in  Gen.  Grant's 
office  in  the  First  National  Bank  Building  in  New  York,  when  he  was  Presi 
dent  of  the  Mexican  Central  Railroad  Co.  He  was  in  fine  spirits  that  day. 
The  Hon.  Thomas  Murphy  was  present  during  part  of  the  interview,  but 
left,  saying  that  when  Gen.  Grant  could  get  a  chance  to  fight  the  war  over 
again  wdth  an  old  private  soldier  who  had  served  under  his  command  there 
was  no  end  to  him. 

In  conclusion,  Gen.  Grant,  after  musing  awhile,  remarked:  "Well, 
Gen.  Lee  did  what  any  great  and  prudent  commander  would  have  done 
there,  considering  the  state  of  his  army  at  the  time,  and  its  relative  infe 
riority  to  mine ;  but  I  do  not  think  that  he  accomplished  as  much  as  he 
expected.  He  inflicted  great  losses  on  my  force,  and  suffered  much  less 
himself  in  the  aggregate,  but  proportionately  he  was  worse  crippled  in  the 
Wilderness  and  at  Spottsylvania  than  I  was. 

' '  I  think  on  the  wThole  that  he  would  have  done  better  if  he  had  fallen 
rapidly  back  on  Richmond,  manned  the  strong  works  there  with  his  army 
intact,  and  waited  for  the  assault  which,  under  such  circumstances,  we 
should  certainly  have  delivered.  In  that  case  my  army  would  have  reached 
Richmond  in  a  condition  of  dash  and  exultation  that  would  have  compelled 
its  commander  to  order  an  assault,  the  same  as  the  feeling  of  my  army  at 


GEN.  WAIN  WRIGHT'S  HUMOR.  155 

Vicksburg  compelled  me  to  assault  that  place  before  they  would  consent  to 
the  hard  work  and  privations  of  a  siege.  It  is  doubtless  best  as  it  was. ' ' 

True,  the  above  is  a  digression  and  rather  foreign  to  the  main  purpose 
of  this  sketch,  which  is  to  give  the  "  Reminiscences  of  a  Cannoneer  "  during 
the  war,  and  not  his  experiences  afterward.  But  as  the  above-mentioned 
views  of  Gen.  Grant  have  not  been  published  anywhere — not  even  in  his 
book,  with  so  much  detail — I  trust  the  digression  will  be  pardoned,  in 
view  of  its  application  to  the  subject  matter  of  the  sketch. 

At  1  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  May  4  we  mounted  and  filed  out  on  the 
Stevensburg  Plank  Road  on  the  march  for  Germania  Ford.  We  arrived  at 
the  vicinity  of  the  ford  about  daylight,  but  had  to  wait  some  time  for  Wil 
son's  Cavalry  Division  to  cross  the  pontoon  bridges,  and  we  utilized  this 
time  in  making  coffee  and  breakfasting.  While  halted  here  a  funny  inci 
dent  occurred.  Strict  orders  had  been  issued  that  no  knapsacks  or  bundles 
were  to  be  strapped  on  to  any  part  of  the  gun-carriages,  but  that  every 
thing  necessary  should  be  carried  on  the  caissons  and  battery  wagons.  But 
one  of  our  batteries  had  considerable  stuff  strapped  on,  contrary  to  orders ; 
so  when  Gen.  Wainwright  came  along  as  we  were  halted  in  column  in  the 
road  he  noticed  this.  A  Lieutenant  was  at  that  moment  in  command. 
Gen.  Wainwright  reined  up  his  horse,  looked  at  the  battery  and  said  : 

"Lieutenant,  what  is  this  you  have  here?" 

"Why,  General,  this  is  Battery—,  1st ." 

"Ah,  thank  you  for  the  information,  Lieutenant ;  I  couldn't  quite 
make  it  out.  You  carry  too  many  guns  for  a  baggage-train,  and  too  much 
baggage  for  a  battery  !  " 

With  this  the  old  General  rode  on,  leaving  all  the  men  roaring  with 
merriment.  It  is  needless  to  remark  that  the  resemblance  of  that  battery 
to  a  baggage-train  soon  ceased.  Finally  the  cavalry  got  across  and  we 
moved  close  at  their  heels.  Perhaps  it  was  9  o'clock  in  the  morning  on 
May  4  when  our  old  Battery  pulted  up  from  the  pontoon  bridge,  and  after 
halting  for  some  time  to  let  Wadsworth's  infantry  file  past  we  again  moved 
forward — forward,  as  it  proved,  to  begin  within  24  hours  a  campaign  with 
out  parallel  in  the  annals  of  war ;  a  campaign  in  wrhich  two  great  armies 
marched  and  fought  for  11  months— from  May  5,  1864,  to  April  9,  1865— 
without  ever  being  out  of  gunshot. 

The  immediate  conflict  in  which  we  were  so  soon  to  engage  proved  to 
be  also  unique  in  history.  It  is  best  described  as  one  solid  battle  from  the 
5th  of  May  to  the  3d  of  June,  inclusive,  and  from  the  Rapidan  to  the 
Chickahominy.  The  two  veteran  armies  grappled  each  other  like  two  huge 
bulldogs,  hung  to  each  other  for  30  days,  literally  rolling  over  and  over  for 
100  miles,  and  chawing  each  other's  throats  all  the  way — a  campaign  best 
described  by  drawing  a  broad  crimson  stripe  right  across  the  map  of  Vir 
ginia  from  the  Rapidan  to  the  Appomattox. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac,  as  it  now  stood  on  the  south  bank  of  the 
Rapidan  stripped  for  battle,  was  at  its  zenith  as  an  organization.  Its  offi 
cers,  without  exception,  were  experienced  in  warfare'.  Its  rank  and  file 


156 


THE  CANNONEER. 


were  largely  veterans,  many  of  whom  had  just  re-enlisted  after  three  years' 
service,  and  were  inured  to  battle,  fatigue  and  privation.  Its  commander, 
Grant,  had  come  to  it  with  the  prestige  of  an  unbroken  record  of  victories 
in  the  West.  And  though  all  the  Potomac  veterans  knew  that  Lee's  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia  was  an  altogether  different  institution  from  the  West 
ern  armies  that  Grant  had  beaten  or  captured,  still  wre  felt  that  the  Army 

of  the  Potomac  was  quite  equal  to 
the  situation.  At  all  events,  Grant's 
reputation  was  that  of  a  commander 
who  always  fought  his  battles  to  the 
finish,  and  that  was  the  kind  of  Gen 
eral  the  old  Army  of  the  Potomac  had 
wanted  for  three  long  years.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  they  were  not 
disappointed  in  Grant.  The  long 
rest  of  five  months  in  the  Winter 
camps  of  the  Eapidan  had  made 
the  men  anxious  for  the  excite 
ment  of  an  active  campaign.  They 
knew  that  the  Rebel  army  was 
inferior  to  them  in  number  and 
equipment.  And  it  was  the  almost 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  rank 
and  file  that  this  was  to  be  the  last 
campaign  of  the  war,  and  that  it 
wouldn't  last  long  either.  In  a 
word,  the  morale  of  our  army  was 
very  high,  and  though  its  subse 
quent  experience  showed  that  the 
Rebel  army  was  a  harder  nut  to 
crack  than  we  supposed,  still  there 
was  never  an  hour  from  May  5, 
1864,  to  April  9,  1865,  when  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  doubted  their  own  mastery 
of  the  situation,  or  regarded  the  de 
struction  of  their  antagonist  as  any 
thing  but  a  question  of  time. 

Personally,  my  sensations  at  en 
tering    upon    this    campaign   were 
different  from  those  which  I  had 
experienced  the  preceding  year  when 
THE  AUTHOR  AS  A  VETERAN.          starting  for  Gettysburg.      Then   I 
[From  a  war-time  ambrotype.]         was  a  raw  recruit,  inclined  to  regard 
my  officers  with  awe  and  my  older  comrades  with  veneration.     But  now 
I  considered  myself  a  veteran  of  the  deepest  dye,  inured  to  the  hardships 


IN    THE   WlLDEENESS.  157 

and  vicissitudes  of  the  field,  regarded  the  officers  with  a  feeling  of  friend 
ship,  respectful  and  deferential  it  is  true,  but  not  servile.  I  felt  on  terms 
of  full  equality  with  any  enlisted  man  in  the  Battery.  All  the  diffidence 
and  timidity  of  the  recruit  had  vanished,  and  in  their  stead  I  felt  that 
mastery  of  the  situation,  ability  to  take  care  of  myself,  and  exultant  self- 
reliance  which  always  characterize  the  veteran  soldier.  My  old  descriptive 
list  says  I  was  19  years  old,  five  feet  seven  and  a  half  inches  high,  fair 
complexion,  brown  eyes,  brown  hair,  weight  161  pounds.  My  chest 
measurement  was  39  inches,  waist  30  inches,  and  doubtless  I  was  as  "good 
a  man ' '  physically  the  day  we  crossed  the  Rapidan  as  ever  in  my  life. 

Well,  under  such  circumstances,  the  Fifth  Corps  moved  slowly  down 
the  Germania  Road  during  the  afternoon  of  the  4th  of  May  and  halted  along 
that  road  from  the  Wilderness  Tavern  back  to  a  farmhouse  called  Spotts- 
wood's.  The  different  batteries  had  been  ordered  that  morning  to  report 
to  the  division  commanders,  two  to  each  division.  As  there  were  four  of 
each  kind  of  batteries  in  the  brigade,  one  of  rifles  and  one  of  12-pounder 
Napoleons  were  assigned  to  a  division,  ours  and  Breck's  (L,  1st  New  York,) 
being  assigned  to  Wadsworth's  Division,  which  brought  us  once  more 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  old  Iron  Brigade  and  the  other  troops  of  the 
old  First  Corps. 

Toward  evening  on  the  4th  of  May  we  heard  faintly  in  the  west  oc 
casional  crackling  volleys,  which,  to  our  practiced  ears,  suggested  cavalry 
skirmishing,  as  we  knew  that  Wilson's  Division  had  gone  in  that  direction 
before  we  came  up.  Some  of  the  men  thought  that  Wilson's  cavalry  had 
found  Lee's  flankers,  which  would  indicate  that  the  main  Rebel  army  was 
moving  to  the  southward  to  head  us  off  somewhere  down  below.  But  the 
others  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  cavalry  had  encountered  the  advance 
skirmishers  of  the  enemy  moving  straight  toward  us  on  the  pike  and  Plank 
Roads,  and  if  this  was  so  we  knew  it  meant  a  great  battle  right  where  we 
were.  It  turned  out  to  be  so.  However,  we  passed  the  night  very  com 
fortably  and  stood  to  posts  in  the  morning  just  before  daybreak.  | 

The  original  disposition  of  the  batteries  was  as  follows :  With  Griffin's 
Division,  Martin's  3d  and  Phillips's  5th  Massachusetts ;  with  Robinson's 
Division,  Mink's  (H)  1st  New  York  and  Rittenhouse's  (D)  oth  Regulars ; 
with  Crawford's  Division,  Cooper's  (B)  1st  Pennsylvania  and  Winslow's  (D) 
1st  New  York,  and  ours  and  Breck's  as  above.  But  for  some  reason,  just  as 
the  movement  began  in  the  morning  of  May  5,  Winslow's  Battery  was 
taken  from  Crawford  and  ordered  to  Griffin.  In  this  shape  the  artillery 
men  of  the  Fifth  Corps  stood  to  posts  at  daybreak  that  fateful  morning  and 
calmly  waited  for  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness  to  begin. 


CHAPTER   VII. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  WILDEENESS— ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE  IN  THE  BKUSH 
—  BUSHWHACKING  ON  A  GKAND  SCALE — CEISIS  OF  the  BATTLE 
— GEN.  FIELD'S  ACCOUNT — ADVANCE  OF  THE  AEMY — SPOTTSYL- 
VANIA  — GEN.  SEDGWICK  KILLED— TEEEIFIC  ASSAULTS— CAPT- 
IJEE  OF  A  WHOLE  REBEL  DIVISION— TEN  DAYS  OF  SOLID  BAT 
TLE —  DEATH  OF  LIEUT.  GOODMAN — HAED  WOEK  FOE  THE  AETIL- 
LEEY—  THE  AUTHOE  "  PUNISHED  "—REFLECTIONS. 

HO  fired  the  first  shot  of  the  battle  of 
the  "Wilderness,  and  thereby  inaugurated 
the  great  Virginia  campaign  of  1864,  has 
been  a  subject  of  much  contention  among 
the  veterans.  As  for  the  infantry,  sev 
eral  comrades  have  written  to  the  author, 
each  claiming  that  his  own  regiment 
was  entitled  to  that  honor.  Chief  among 
these  disputants  are  comrades  belonging 
to  the  140th  New  York  and  the  14th 
Regulars,  of  Ayres's  Brigade,  and  the  1st 
Michigan,  of  Bartlett's.  As  no  conclu 
sive  data  exist  upon  this  point,  our  gal 
lant  comrades  must ' '  fight  it  out  on  that 
line."  So  far  as  the  artillery  of  the 
Fifth  Corps  is  concerned  there  is  no  room 
for  doubt  on  this  score.  The  first  cannon  shot  of  that  campaign  was  fired 
by  Cooper's  Battery  (B),  1st  Pennsylvania,  which  followed  Crawford's 
Division  on  the  crossroad  leading  to  Parker's  Store  early  in  the  morning 
of  May  5.  But  Martin's  6th  New  York,  a  horse-battery  with  "Wilson's 
cavalry,  was  already  in  action  near  Parker's  Store,  and  was  quite  seriously 
engaged  with  the  advance  of  Rodes's  infantry,  losing  two  men  killed  and 
several  wounded  before  they  limbered  up.  The  author  will  not  pretend  to 
decide  whether  the  skirmish  between  Wilson's  cavalry  and  Rodes's  infan 
try  at  daybreak  was  properly  to  be  considered  a  part  of  the  grand  battle  of 
the  Wilderness,  though  it  would  seem  that  if  Buford's  skirmish  on  Wil- 
loughby  Creek  in  the  early  morning  of  July  1,  1863,  was  part  of  the  bat 
tle  of  Gettysburg,  the  same  rule  ought  to  apply  in  this  case.  If  so,  then 
the  5th  New  York  Cavalry  is  entitled  to  the  honor  of  beginning  the  colossal 
Virginia  campaign  of  1864,  and  the  "first  shot  in  the  Wilderness"  was 
fired  by  Private  Greene,  of  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  who  was  a  cavalry  videt 
on  the  Plank  Road  beyond  Parker's  Store,  and  opened  on  the  enemy's  ap 
proaching  infantry  with  his  Spencer  carbine  just  about  daylight.  But 
leaving  the  cavalrymen  to  tell  their  own  story  —  which  they  were  always 


WADSWOETH  AND  CRAWFOKD.  159 

amply  capable  of  doing  —  let  us  return  to  the  Fifth  Corps  at  and  about  the 
Lacey  House. 

It  was,  perhaps,  7  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  May  5  when  the  leading 
infantry  of  the  Corps  —  Crawford's  Division  —  moved  out  along  the  cross 
road  leading  in  a  southwesterly  direction  from  the  Wilderness  Tavern  to 
Parker's  Store.  Cooper's  Battery  went  with  them  and  they  soon  reached 
the  open  ground  of  the  Chewning  Farm,  which  was  about  half  way  to  the 
store.  Cooper  went  in  battery  on  a  knoll,  which  was  the  highest  ground 
in  the  clearing,  and  fired  two  or  three  shots  for  range,  as  the  enemy's 
infantry  were  beginning  to  show  up  in  some  force  in  their  front  toward 
the  store.  In  the  meantime  Wadsworth's  Division,  accompanied  by  Breck's 
Battery  (L,  1st  New  York,)  and  ours,  moved  partly  by  the  same  road, 
but  deployed  to  the  right  of  it  as  soon  as  we  got  into  the  clearing,  while 
Crawford  deployed  to  the  left,  which  movement  soon  made  a  considerable 
gap  between  the  two  divisions.  It  at  once  became  evident  that  the  enemy 
was  present  in  force  and  meant  business.  There  was  but  little  skirmishing 
to  presage  the  coming  battle.  Our  Battery  and  Breck's  had  just  cleared 
the  brush  on  the  east  edge  of  the  clearing  when  Wadsworth's  infantry 
struck  the  main  Eebel  line  of  battle  in  the  brush  which  fringed  its  west 
edge.  About  the  same  moment  Crawford's  people  struck  the  advance  of 
Hill's  troops  in  the  edge  of  the  Chewning  Farm,  and  an  almost  simultane 
ous  crash  of  musketry  from  two  heavy  lines  of  battle  nearly  a  mile  long, 
opening  in  concert,  told  that  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness  had  begun ! 
Owing  partly  to  the  badness  of  the  road  and  partly  to  uncertainty  as  to 
the  position  of  the  enemy,  the  two  batteries  halted  at  the  east  edge  of  the 
Hagerson  Clearing  ;  but  as  soon  as  Gen.  Wadsworth  saw  that  the  enemy 
was  in  force  he  personally  directed  Capt.  Stewart  to  command  both  batter 
ies,  thereby,  in  effect,  making  him  Chief  of  Artillery  of  the  division,  the 
immediate  command  of  Battery  B  thus  devolving  temporarily  upon  Lieut. 
Goodman.  Gen.  Wadsworth  being  ordered  by  Gen.  Warren  to  take  ground 
toward  the  Plank  Road,  no  doubt  for  the  purpose  of  closing  the  gap  between 
his  division  and  that  of  Gen.  Crawford,  moved  by  his  flank  in  that  direc 
tion,  but,  owing  to  the  broken  ground  and  tangled  brush  in  which  the 
enemy  found  almost  impenetrable  cover,  he  was  repulsed,  and  his  troops 
as  they  retreated  slowly  were  pushed  by  the  enemy,  who  appeared  extend 
ing  to  envelope  the  left  flank  of  his  division.  At  this  time  Capt.  Stewart 
was  with  the  General,  and  he  had  the  guns  and  limbers  of  our  Battery 
with  him  in  the  direction  of  the  left  flank,  while  the  caissons  remained 
some  distance  back  with  Breck's  Battery.  At  this  moment  Stewart  sent 
our  Bugler,  Johnny  Cook,  back  to  our  position,  with  his  compliments  to 
Lieut.  Breck  and  an  order  to  "retire  the  caissons,"  together  with  Breck's 
Battery,  and  that  battery,  followed  by  our  caissons,  pulled  back  to  the 
Lacey  Clearing  by  the  road  above  mentioned. 

Meantime  Capt.  Stewart  and  Lieut.  Goodman  unlimbered  the  guns  of 
Battery  B  with  fixed  prolonge,  so  as  to  fight  retiring,  and  opened  with  can 
ister  on  those  troops  of  the  enemy  who  were  endeavoring  to  envelope  Wads- 


160  THE  CANNONEER. 

worth's  flank.  This  fire  was  continued,  and  the  enemy  checked  by  it  until 
the  retrograde  movement  of  the  infantry  was  safely  assured  ;  whereupon 
the  Captain  limbered  up  his  guns  and  brought  them  back  into  the  Lacey 
Clearing,  where  they  rejoined  the  caissons.  The  Captain,  in  his  polite  sug 
gestion  to  Lieut.  Breck,  gave  no  reason  for  retiring  his  battery  and  our 
caissons,  but  probably  it  was  because  the  road  was  very  bad  and,  intend 
ing  to  hold  the  position  as  long  as  possible,  he  did  not  want  it  encum 
bered  with  another  battery  and  our  caissons  (we  had  eight  at  that  time, 
six  regular  and  two  spare, )  in  case  a  rapid  withdrawal  of  the  guns  should 
be  necessary,  particularly  as  that  road  was  the  only  one  practicable  for  artil 
lery  anywhere  between  the  pike  and  the  plank  at  that  point.  It  was  grown 
up  with  small  brush  and  full  of  old  stumps,  rotting  logs,  etc.  It  had  been 
used  in  former  times  to  haul  out  charcoal,  as  there  were  many  beds  of  old 
charcoal-pits  along  the  route  between  the  two  clearings,  which  was  perhaps 
three-quarters  of  a  mile.  With  the  exception  of  the  shots  fired  by  Cooper's 
Battery,  with  Crawford's  Division,  before  mentioned,  this  little  action  of  our 
Battery  was  the  first  engagement  of  the  Fifth  Corps  artillery  in  the  battle  of 
the  Wilderness.  This  affair  was  of  short  duration,  but  very  destructive  to  the 
infantry  while  it  lasted.  Four  men  were  hit  in  our  Battery,  but  none  of  them 
severely  enough  to  be  reported  officially  in  the  casualty  lists.  They  were  all 
hit  by  spent  balls  from  the  enemy's  skirmishers  when  the  Battery  was 
retiring  through  the  Hagerson  Farm.  At  that  time  there  was  much  dis 
cussion  between  the  men  of  Wadsworth's  and  Crawford's  Divisions,  the 
former  accusing  the  latter  of  having  ' '  broken ' '  and  thereby  exposing  our 
left  flank  ;  but  calm  investigation  dispels  this  theory.  The  fact  was  that 
the  two  divisions  moved  in  such  a  manner  as  to  open  a  gap  between  Wads- 
worth's  left  and  Crawford's  right,  and  the  enemy  took  advantage  of  it. 
Perhaps  as  clear  an  analysis  of  this  circumstance  as  will  ever  be  made  is 
that  of  Comrade  William  A.  Holland,  of  the  Pennsylvania  "Bucktails," 
of  Crawford's  Division,  who  writes  me  as  follows: 

The  facts  are  that  neither  division  "gave  way."  The  two  divisions  ad 
vanced  on  the  morning-  of  May  5  in  a  sort  of  fan-shaped  alignment,  separating 
as  they  moved  forward  until  a  wide  gap  was  left  between  the  left  of  Wads- 
worth  and  the  right  of  Crawford,  and  no  provision  was  made  to  guard  this  gap. 
I  will  not  undertake  to  say  whose  fault  this  was,  but  it  was  certainly  an  error 
of  tactics  that  cost  the  life  of  many  a  brave  man  and  boy  in  both  divisions  be 
fore  the  day  was  over. 

Wadsworth  had  Stewart's  Battery  and  other  artillery  with  him  that  followed 
him  through  the  brush,  and  when  he  had  to  retire  they  materially  aided  his  re 
trograde  movement  by  checking  the  enemy  who  tried  to  flank  him.  But  the 
two  batteries  that  were  told  off  with  Crawford's  Division  could  not  get  through 
the  brush  that  we  had  to  penetrate,  and  so  we  had  to  "go  it  alone."  (There 
was  but  one  battery,  Cooper's,  with  Crawford.) 

Wadsworth's  Division,  moreover,  was  exposed  only  on  one  flank  — its  left  — 
where  the  gap  was  between  its  left  and  our  right ;  whereas  we  were  exposed  on 
both  flanks,  for  the  reason  that  as  we  separated  from  Wadswprth  on  our  right 
we  also  failed  to  connect  with  Hancock's  troops,  who  should  have  met  us  on 
the  left,  and  hence  in  the  forenoon's  battle  of  May  5  our  division  of  Pennsyl 
vania  Reserves  (Crawford's)  was  "in  the  air,"  as  tacticians  say,  exposed  to  at 
tack  in  front,  on  both  flanks,  and,  as  it  is  proved,  in  rear  also. 


FIGHTING  IN  THE  BRUSH. 


161 


The  result  was  that  the  enemy  came  in  on  both  our  flanks  unmolested  in 
the  two  edges  of  the  Chewning  Clearing  or  Farm,  which  was  a  narrow  clearing 
at  that  point,  and  our  two  brigades  were  practically  surrounded  before  we  got 
orders  to  fall  back.  We  were  then  compelled  to  cut  our  way  to  the  rear,  and  in 
doing  so  passed  down  the  ravine  of  the  Wilderness  Run,  with  the  enemy  on 
both  sides  of  us.  Gen.  McCandless  was  captured,  but  was  rescued  or  escaped 
and  rejoined  us.  There  are  a  few  of  the  "old  boys11  still  living  who  will  re 
member  when  he  came  down  the  ravine  through  which  we  made  our  escape. 
He  had  lost  his  hat,  and  when  we  saw  him  riding  for  his  life,  and  his  gray  hair 
flying  in  the  air,  we  gave  him  a  hearty  cheer.  I  think  the  movement  was  made 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  position  of  the  enemy. 

It  was  doubtless  what  the  Generals  would  call  a  "  reconnoissance  in  force ; " 
but,  if  so,  it  was  a  costly  one,  involving,  as  it  did,  fighting  which  made  even 
veterans  of  Gettysburg  bite  their  lips,  and  where  the  musketry  of  the  op 
posing  lines,  almost  muzzle  to  muzzle,  whipped  the  dense  brush  into  "broom- 
stuff.'11  The  Pennsylvania  Reserves  were  veterans  of  many  battles,  but  that 
Wilderness  fighting  was  a  new  kind  of  murder  even  to  them.  The  same  was 
true  of  Wadswortl^s  troops,  the  Iron  Brigade,  and  others,  as  their  survivors 
have  often  told  me  since  the  war.  It  was,  as  the  "  Cannoneer  "  says,  "  a  rough- 
and-tumble  all  along  the  line.11  The  fact  is  that  there  was  a  gap  between  the 
two  divisions,  by  reason  of  which  both  were  flanked.  Whose  fault  this  was  I 
do  not  attempt  to  say ;  but  it  must  have  been  the  fault  of  some  one  far  above 
Stewart's  "  Cannoneer  "  or  your  humble  servant  in  rank  and  power. 

Having  fallen  back,  we  went  into  position  near  the  Lacey  House,  and 
remained  there  during  the  day  not  engaged.  But  the  infantry  fighting  in 
our  front  and  to  the  left  of  us,  in  the  low  scrubby  woods  and  beyond  them, 
was  frightful.  All  we  saw  of  this  first  day  in  the  Wilderness  was  the  awful 

procession  of  mangled  men 
sent  back  to  the  Wilderness 
Tavern  and  other  points  on 
the  Germania  Eoad  from  the 
infantry  divisions  of  Griffin,. 
Robinson,  Wadsworth  and 
Crawford,  of  the  Fifth  Corps. 
Occasionally  spent  balls  from 
over  the  woods  kicked  up  the 
dust  near  us,  but  nobody  was 
hurt.  Artillery  was  not  much 
used  on  our  front  this  day. 
Almost  all  the  work  was  done 
by  the  infantry  in  a  sort  of  a 
rough  -  and  -  tumble  fashion, 
catch  as  catch  can,  and  we 
couldn't  make  head  nor  tail 
of  it  from  the  sound,  Avhich 
was  a  pretty  nearly  solid 
crash  of  musketry  from  day 
light  till  dark.  There  was 
comparative  rest  after  9 


TOM  BRODERICK, 
Ono.Se fid  of  GwfFM  BATTO»._ 


o'clock,  but  the  slightly-wounded  stragglers  from  the  infantry  in  our  front 
kept  coming  back  through  our  position  more  or  less  all  night. 
11 


162  THE  CAXXOXEEB. 

The  battery  in  the  Artillery  Brigade  of  the  Fifth  Corps  most  seriously 
engaged  this  first  day  in  the  Wilderness  was  Winslow's  (D)  1st  New  York, 
which  was  with  Griffin's  Division  on  the  pike.  They  had  a  section  pushed 
out  on  the  pike  close  up  to  the  enemy,  and  when  Ayres's  Brigade  fell  back 
they  were  caught  in  the  flank  by  the  enemy  coming  in  on  the  north  side 
of  the  road.  Bartlett  made  an  effort  to  retake  these  guns,  but,  being 
unsupported  by  Ayres  on  his  right  and  the  enemy  threatening  to  get  in  on 
his  left  rear,  he  was  unable  to  accomplish  his  purpose.  Consequently  this 
section  of  Winslow's  Battery  was  lost,  and,  though  the  two  guns  remained 
there  in  the  road  in  plain  sight  the  rest  of  the  day,  the  enemy  succeeded 
in  hauling  them  off  during  the  night.  Winslow's  loss  in  men  was  eight 
<or  10  and  all  the  horses  of  this  section.  No  men  were  hurt  in  the  other 
Ibatteries,  except  Cooper's,  which  lost  a  man  or  two  and  some  horses.  The 
"whole  trouble  on  Griffin's  front  seemed  to  be,  so  far  as  the  artillery  engaged 
there  was  concerned,  that  the  batteries  could  do  little  or  nothing  except 
to  fire  along  the  pike  itself,  and  that  was  ineffectual,  because  the  enemy 
brought  no  artillery  to  oppose  them,  but  defiled  his  infantry  through  the 
'brush  on  their  flanks,  and  so  caught  them  in  helpless  positions  when  Ayres 
recoiled.  No  blame  whatever  could  attach  to  Capt.  Winslow  for  the  loss 
of  his  section  ;  in  fact,  he  himself  was  severely  wounded  in  a  gallant  but 
vain  attempt  to  rescue  his  guns  after  the  infantry  had  broken.  His  battery 
was  afterward  commanded  by  Lieut.  Lester  Richardson. 

The  men  of  Griffin's  Division  felt  very  sore  about  losing  these  two 
guns  of  Winslow's  Battery.  It  was  said  that  they  were  the  first  guns  ever 
taken  by  the  enemy  from  the  Fifth  Corps.  As  there  was  then,  and  has 
been  since,  so  much  discussion  about  it,  doubtless  the  following  extract 
from  Gen.  Wainwright's  official  report  of  that  battle  will  serve  to  settle 
the  dispute.  The  General  says  : 

It  having  been  now  ascertained  that  the  enemy  was  in  full  force  and  would 
resist  our  f  ui-ther  progress,  four  batteries  were  posted  on  the  crest  to  the  right 
of  the  Lacey  House,  commanding  the  valley  and  the  road  to  Parker's  Store, 
in  the  following  order  from  left  to  right :  3d  Massachusetts ;  D,  5th  Regulars ; 
H,  1st  New  York,  and  B,  1st  Pennsylvania.  At  times  during  the  afternoon 
the  rifled  batteries  opened  at  bodies  of  the  enemy  seen  passing  the  open  ground 
to  which  Crawford  at  first  advanced.  The  distance  was  about  2,700  yards,  prac 
tice  good.  I  had  here  an  opportunity  of  judging'  of  the  relative  merits  of  the 
Parrotts  and  three-inch  guns  at  this  range.  The  elevation  required  was  the  same 
tor  each,  nor  could  I  see  any  difference  in  the  accuracy  of  the  fire.  I  should 
judge  the  proportion  of  shells  which  burst  about  as  five  to  four  in  favor  of 
the  three-inch  Hotchkiss,  while  five  Parrott  and  three  three-inch  burst  within  a 
few  yards  of  the  muzzle.  Meanwhile  Winslow's  Battery  (D),  1st  New  York,  ad 
vanced  up  the  Chancel] orsville  Pike  with  Griffin's  Division  about  a  mile  be 
yond  its  junction  with  the  Germania  Plank  Road.  One  section  was  taken  from 
the  battery  (which  was  left  at  this  point)  and  pushed  up  the  road  along  the  ad 
vance  of  the  infantry,  about  a  mile  farther  to  an  opening  in  the  Wilderness, 
across  which  the  road  passes  diagonally  to  the  right.  The  section  crossed  this 
opening  and  went  into  position  part  way  up  the  rise  beyond,  firing  solid  shot 
up  the  road.  Finding  that  the  infantry  line  of  battle  at  his  right  had  not  ad 
vanced  with  him,  Capt.  Winslow  withdrew  his  section  to  the  bottom  of  the  hill 
mearly  across  to  the  hither  side  of  the  open  space  and  again  went  into  position. 


LOSING  Grxs  is  ACTION.  163 

But  at  the  same  moment  Ayres's  Brigade,  which  supported  them  on  the  right, 
gave  way  and  fell  back  across  the  road.  A  few  shots  were  fired  by  the  section 
even  after  the  infantry  had  left  them,  but  nearly  all  the  horses  were  shot, 
Capt.  "Winslow  severely  wounded,  Lieut.  Shelton  wounded  and  a  prisoner,  and 
the  enemy  actually  between  the  guns  before  they  were  abandoned.  No  blame 
whatever  can  be  attached  to  either  the  battery  officers  or  men,  nor  to  Capt. 
Mai-tin,  acting  at  the  time  as  Division  Chief  of  Artillery.  They  all  acted  under 
orders  from  Gen.  Griffin.  The  guns  were  fought  to  the  last,  and  lost  as  honor 
ably  as  guns  could  be  lost.  I  may  as  well  mention  in  this  place  that  the  guns 
were  not  removed  by  the  enemy  that  night,  as  I  found  on  visiting  the  picket 
line  the  next  morning.  Had  I  known  it  I  believe  they  might  have  been  drawn 
within  our  lines  that  night.  The  next  day  arrangements  were  made  to  do  so 
immediately  after  dark,  but  just  at  that  time  Ricketts's  Division,  holding  the 
right  of  the  road  at  which  they  lay,  was  driven  in,  and  although  Gen.  Griffin 
offered  to  give  me  a  brigade  to  try  to  recover  them,  if  I  would  ask  for  it,  I  did 
not  feel  willing  to  incur  the  responsibility  myself  of  bringing  on  an  engage 
ment  and  the  consequent  loss  of  life. 

The  average  reader  so  long  after  these  events  occurred  may  wonder  why 
so  much  fuss  is  made  about  so  simple  a  thing  as  the  capture  of  two  12- 
pounder  Napoleon  guns  by  the  enemy  in  such  a  battle  as  the  first  day  in 
the  Wilderness  was — when  about  10,000  men  were  killed  or  crippled.  The 
explanation  is  that  guns  and  colors  are  always  regarded  by  soldiers  as  the 
symbols  of  military  honor.  When  a  couple  of  batteries  are  attached  to  a 
division  every  infantryman  in  that  division  at  once  regards  the  guns  of 
those  batteries  as  his  personal  estate  or  private  property.  He  may  not 
care  a  continental  about  the  artillerymen  who  work  those  guns.  But  the 
guns  themselves  have  been  placed  in  his  care ;  he  has  been  made  their 
guardian  ;  he  knows  that  if  the  enemy  tries  to  take  them  the  Cannoneers 
themselves  can  do  but  little  to  defend  them,  and  that,  therefore,  it  is  the 
infantryman  who  must  always  protect  the  guns  of  the  artillery,  or,  failing 
to  do  so,  must  incur  the  reproach  of  losing  them.  Hence  it  is  that  when 
ever  you  see  two  old  infantrymen  fighting  their  battles  over  you  will  ob 
serve  that  the  bulk  of  their  reminiscence  relates  to  "batteries  that  we  took 
from  the  enemy  "  or  "batteries  of  our  own  that  we  have  retaken,"  or  "bat 
teries  that  we  have  rescued"  or  "batteries  that  we  have  supported,"  etc. 
On  this  account  you  will  also  notice,  at  assemblages  of  the  veterans,  that 
an  artilleryman  will  always  be  the  center  of  a  group  of  his  old  infantry  or 
cavalry  comrades  earnestly  assuring  him  of  the  many  occasions  on  which 
they  "saved  his  battery !  "  Hence  it  was  that  the  troops  of  Griffin's  Di 
vision  felt  so  keenly  the  loss  of  Winslow's  two  guns  on  the  turnpike  that 
day.  They  were  the  first,  last  and  only  guns  lost  by  the  Fifth  Corps  in 
action.  Of  course  it  is  understood  that  guns  disabled  or  dismounted  and 
therefore  abandoned  are  not  considered  as  ' '  guns  lost. "  It  is  only  when 
the  enemy  captures  them  in  condition  to  use  them  against  their  former 
owners  that  they  are  considered  as  "guns  lost  in  action."  Such  was  the 
case  with  these  two.  And,  to  complete  their  history,  these  selfsame  two 
guns  of  Winslow's  New  York  Battery,  taken  by  Doles's  Brigade,  of  Rodes's 
Division,  in  the  Wilderness,  May  5,  1864,  were  retaken  by  the  8th  New 
York  Cavalry  in  the  rout  of  Early's  army  at  Cedar  Creek,  Oct.  19. 


164  THE  CAXXOXEEK. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  May  6  Wads  worth's  Division  was  pushed 
through  the  brush  south  of  the  Lacey  Clearing,  under  orders  to  effect  junc 
tion  with  Hancock's  troops  and  Stevenson's  and  Wilcox's  Divisions,  of  the 
Ninth  Corps  —  which  had  just  reached  the  field  by  a  forced  march  from 
Centreville  —  advanced  from  the  Wilderness  Tavern  to  prolong  the  left  of 
the  Fifth  Corps,  which  Crawford  held  after  Wadsworth  moved.  It  was  at 
first  expected  that  Stewart  and  Breck  would  go  with  Wadsworth,  as  they 
had  done  the  day  before;  but  just  as  Wadsworth  started  off  the  batteries 
were  ordered  to  take  position  on  the  knoll  at  the  south  end  of  the  Lacey 
Clearing,  about  100  rods  from  the  house,  where  they  could  command  the 
ravine  of  the  Wilderness  Eun  and  also  enfilade  the  edge  of  the  brush  on 
the  opposite  rise  of  ground  in  case  the  enemy  should  try  to  come  out  of  it. 
The  battle  of  May  6  began  on  the  Plank  Road,  about  one  mile  from  our 
position,  at  daylight,  and  from  that  time  until  about  10  a.  m.  a  conflict  of 
unparalleled  ferocity  raged  among  the  barren  knolls,  brushy  ravines  and 
pine  thickets  which  filled  the  space  between  the  Lacey  Clearing  and  Tapp's 
Farm  on  the  Plank  Road.  By  10  o'clock  the  sounds  of  musketry  and  the 
dense  volumes  of  smoke  rolling  up  above  the  scrubby  woods  began  to  ap 
proach  our  position,  which  meant,  of  course,  that  the  Johnnies  were  driving 
our  infantry  from  the  Plank  Road.  Before  long  the  first  rush  of  stragglers 
began  to  emerge  from  the  woods  in  our  front,  and  we  could  distinctly  hear 
the  Rebel  yell  through  the  brush;  the  musketry  in  the  meantime  beat 
anything  ever  heard.  Unbroken  by  the  hoarser  roar  of  artillery  anywhere 
on  the  line,  it  was  one  solid,  savage  crash,  crash,  without  the  slightest  lull 
or  intermission,  extending  along  a  line  over  two  miles  in  length,  of  which 
we  were  about  in  rear  of  the  right  center.  We  could  do  nothing,  because 
no  horses  could  have  pulled  a  gun  through  the  brush  in  which  the  infantry 
were  fighting.  As  for  the  roads,  there  were  only  two,  the  plank  and  the 
pike,  and  they  were  at  that  place  simply  wide  paths  through  thickets. 
Our  artillery  had  but  one  chance  of  work,  and  that  was  if  our  infantry 
should  fall  back  into  the  Lacey  Clearing  and  the  Rebels  should  attempt 
to  force  the  position  at  and  about  the  Wilderness  Tavern.  And  about  10 
o'clock  in  the  morning  it  seemed  as  if  we  would  get  that  chance.  The 
crash  and  the  yells  had  kept  coming  our  way  for  half  an  hour,  when  s*ud- 
denly  our  infantry,  the  old  Iron  Brigade,  came  pell-mell  out  of  the  woods 
a  little  to  the  left  of  our  front  in  some  confusion.  They  had  not  been 
broken  by  the  enemy,  but  their  formation  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
density  of  the  thickets  where  they  fought.  Then  came  rapid  commands  to 
change  front  with  the  left  and  center  sections  ;  to  "  fire  to  the  left ;  load 
canister — ready. ' '  But  the  narrow  clearing  was  full  of  Cutler's  disordered 
infantry,  so  we  stood  at  a  ready,  pieces  sighted  and  lanyards  in  hand  for 
several  minutes,  expecting  to  see  the  enemy's  line  emerge  from  the  brush. 
Meantime  Cutler's  infantry  had  sagged  to  the  left  toward  the  Germania 
Road ,  or  were  seeking  shelter  in  the  little  ravine  on  our  left  front,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  they  cleared  a  path  for  our  canister.  But  the  Johnnies, 
when  they  came  to  the  edge  of  the  brush  and  saw  18  guns  looking  at  them. 


THE  HEAVY  ARTILLERY.  165 

from  the  Lacey  House  knoll,  hesitated,  and  instead  of  charging,  as  we 
expected  them  to  do,  lay  down  in  the  edge  of  the  brush  and  began  sharp- 
shooting  at  us  and  our  then  rallying  infantry.  To  this  we  instantly 
replied  with  canister,  which,  after  a  few  ineffectual  rounds,  was  changed 
to  case.  Of  course,  they  had  no  artillery,  as  they  had  come  through  brush 
that  nien  with  muskets  could  hardly  penetrate,  let  alone  teams  and  gun- 
carriages.  No  one  knows  what  we  did  to  them  with  our  canister  and  case 
shot,  but  they  hit  four  or  five  of  us  in  the  three  batteries  with  their  sharp- 
shooting,  though  it  was  tolerably  long  musket  range.  But  they  did  not 
seriously  follow  our  broken  infantry  beyond  the  edge  of  the  brush.  It  has 
been  stated  in  magazine  articles  published  since  the  Rebellion  by  Confed 
erate  officers,  that  their  troops  at  this  time  —  Gregg's  Texans  and  Benn ing's 
Georgians —  "  got  into  the  Germania  Road  and  within  pistol  shot  of  the 
"Wilderness  Tavern."  And  that,  "if  they  had  been  suitably  supported, 
would  have  cut  our  lines  in  two  at  that  point  and  separated  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac."  The  fact  is  that  from  where  our  Battery  stood  we  could 
see  half  a  mile  in  either  direction,  right  or  left,  along  the  Germania  Road, 
and  the  Wilderness  Tavern  was  perhaps  about  half  a  mile  in  our  rear,  also 
in  plain  sight,  and  there  was  not  during  the  whole  6th  of  May  any  Rebel 
more  than  10  rods  outside  the  edge  of  the  brush  that  fringed  the  Lacey 
Clearing,  and  even  those  didn't  stay  out  of  the  brush  long. 

It  was  now  toward  noon  of  May  6.  The  Johnnies  had  driven  Wads- 
worth's  whole  division  in  ;  they  had  killed  this  good  old  man  and  captured 
his  corpse,  and  they  had  stopped  in  front  of  our  guns  at  the  edge  of  the 
Lacey  Clearing.  Then  the  heavy  artillery  came  into  action  as  infantry. 
These  heavy  artillery  troops  were  Kitching's  Brigade,  composed  of  the  6th 
and  loth  New  York  Heavy,  and  they  were  attached  to  the  Artillery  Re 
serve  in  the  organization  of  the  army.  The  6th  New  York  had  been  with 
the  army  in  the  field  prior  to  this  and  had  seen  some  fighting  in  1863,  but 
all  the  other  Heavies  had  been  in  the  defenses  of  Washington  until  ordered 
to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  by  Gen.  Grant  in  this  campaign.  They  were 
organized  in  regiments  of  12  companies  each  and  some  of  them  came  into 
the  field  with  from  1,500  to  1,800  muskets.  They  had  been  thoroughly 
drilled  and  disciplined  during  their  two  years  or  so  of  garrison  duty,  and 
were  super))  troops,  as  their  subsequent  record  showed.  Of  course  the 
veterans  of  the  infantry  and  light  artillery  poked  fun  at  them  when  they 
first  came  out,  asking  them  if  they  had  brought  their  trunks  along,  if  they 
had  a  full  supply  of  paper  collars,  etc.,  and  informing  them  that  there  were 
plenty  of  "fortifications"  for  them  to  "man"  just  the  other  side  of  the 
brush.  But  no  one  was  inclined  to  make  fun  at  their  expense  after  they 
had  been  in  battle  and  showed  what  they  were  made  of,  because  the  records 
and  reports  of  the  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania,  Cold  Harbor  and  the  1 8th  ot 
June  shows  that  no  troops  fought  better  than  those  heavy  artillerymen  serv 
ing  as  infantry.  They  truly  "manned  earthworks,"  Rebel  earthworks; 
they  "manned  them  "  from  the  wrong  side.  They  got  in,  and  stayed  there. 
Many  of  them  are  there  yet ,  or  under  the  shade  of  the  trees  at  Arlington. 


166  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

No  troops  fared  harder  or  died  gamer.  Kitching's  Brigade  "  went  in,  " 
and  the  enemy  fell  back  through  the  brush  in  our  immediate  front.  But 
the  "heavies, "  when  they  got  to  the  clearing  on  the  other  side  of  the  brush, 
were  assailed  in  their  turn  and  driven  back  with  great  loss.  During  this 
time  another  frightful  battle  had  been  going  on  to  our  left  on  the  line  of 
the  Plank  Road,  and  from  the  sounds  wre  thought  our  folks  were  being  forced 
back  to  the  Brock  Eoad.  There  was  plenty  of  work  for  the  artillery  down 
there,  judging  from  the  sound,  and  we  afterward  learned  that  the  Sixth 
Corps  batteries  that  were  with  Getty's  Division,  and  those  of  the  Second 
Corps,  did  fine  business  in  the  open  ground  where  the  Brock  Road  crosses 
the  Plank.  It  was  rumored  up  our  way  about  4  or  5  o'clock  in  the  after 
noon  that  the  line  of  the  Second  Corps  had  been  forced  at  the  intersection 
of  the  Brock  Road  and  the  Plank,  and  that  the  enemy  was  sweeping  up  the 
German ia  Road  toward  the  Wilderness  Tavern.  This  would  have  brought 
them  in  our  left  and  rear.  But  they  did  not  come.  It  was  soon  known  that 
they  simply  stormed  one  salient  in  Hancock's  intrenched  line  and  were 
immediately  driven  out  of  it  by  Sprigg  Carroll's  Brigade,  of  the  Second 
Corps,  and  the  Second  Brigade  of  Wadsworth's  Division,  commanded  by 
Gen.  James  C.  Rice.  In  the  afternoon  we  could  see  that  the  woods  were 
on  fire  on  the  southern  edge  of  the  Lacey  Clearing,  the  fire  extending  away 
to  our  left,  and  this  made  us  apprehensive  for  the  wounded  of  our  infantry, 
who  were  lying  helpless  in  this  brush  in  great  numbers.  The  fighting  in 
our  immediate  front — south  side  of  the  turnpike  —  had  pretty  much  ceased 
by  4  o'clock  ;  but  Stevenson's  Division,  of  the  Ninth  Corps,  had  now  come 
up,  and  Avent  into  the  brush  in  the  same  place  where  Crawford's  Division 
had  attacked  in  the  morning  of  May  5. 

At  first  they  drove  the  enemy  clear  out  of  the  brush,  and  we  could  see 
the  smoke  of  their  musketry  rolling  up  in  great  volumes  over  in  the  clear 
ing  on  the  other  side.  But  they  soon  came  back  pell-mell,  and  were  re 
formed,  some  in  the  Lacey  Clearing,  and  others  not  until  they  had  got  back 
to  the  Germania  Road,  where  there  was  now  quite  a  line  of  earthworks. 
Night  was  now  coming  on.  In  our  own  front  all  wras  quiet,  except  spat 
ting  picket  shots.  To  the  left  things  were  cooling  off,  though  there  were 
occasional  crashes  of  heavy  musketry  down  there  as  late  as  9  o'clock.  But 
just  at  dusk  a  fearful  uproar  set  in  on  our  right  just  north  of  the  pike. 
This  was  not  far  from  our  position.  The  brush  here  lined  the  pike  on  its 
north  side,  and  the  formation  of  the  ground  was  such  that  we  could  not  see 
the  clearing  beyond,  which  \vas  part  of  the  Spottswood  Farm.  But  it  was 
now  dusk  enough  so  that  the  rapid,  flashing  volleys  over  there  would  light 
up  the  sky  like  "heat-lightning"  in  a  Summer  night,  and  we  could  dis 
tinctly  hear  the  yells  of  the  troops.  As  the  firing  rapidly  swept  back  to 
ward  the  Germania  Road  we  knew  that  the  Sixth  Corps,  on  our  right,  was 
being  driven  in,  and  we  all  momentarily  expected  an  attack  along  the  pike, 
which  would  have  made  a  night  battle.  To  meet  this  probable  attack 
Rittenhouse's,  ours  and  one  of  the  batteries  of  the  Ninth  Corps — the  7th 
Maine,  which  was  temporarily  reporting  to  Gen.  Wainwright — were  or- 


END  OF  THE  BATTLE.  167 

dered  into  position  to  command  the  pike,  but  only  Kittenhouse  went  into> 
battery.  This  flurry  proved  to  be  an  attempt  to  turn  our  right  flank,  held 
by  Wright's  and  Ricketts's  Divisions,  of  the  Sixth  Corps.  It  resulted  in. 
the  capture  of  Gens.  Seymour  and  Shaler,  with  portions  of  their  brigades., 
and  forced  the  right  of  the  Sixth  Corps  back  to  the  Spottswood  House,, 
which  line  they  held  after  repulsing  a  renewed  effort  of  the  enemy.  Xo> 
part  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  infantry  or  artillery,  wTas  involved  in  this  affair,, 
except  to  get  ready  for  an  apprehended  attack,  as  above  stated.  However, 
it  was  a  trying  time  for  half  an  hour  or  so,  as  a  successful  attack  on  our 
right  flank  just  at  that  stage  of  the  conflict  would  have  had  a  serious  effect 
on  the  troops  of  the  center  and  left  wing.  But  no  attack  was  made  on  our 
front,  and  after  about  half  an  hour  of  scrambling,  yelling  and  crashing  up 
there  (to  the  right)  everything  stopped  as  if  by  magic.  In  a  few  minutes, 
we  ourselves  limbered  up  and  fell  back  to  the  road,  where  we  bivouacked 
for  the  night,  having  held  one  position,  with  but  little  change,  on  the  Lacey 
House  knoll  for  two  days  and  one  night.  Our  casualties  during  the  two- 
days  had  been  four  men  hit,  all  slightly,  by  spent  balls.  None  of  them 
were  returned  as  wounded. 

This  battle  of  the  Wilderness  was  a  singular  struggle.  It  was  contested 
for  two  days  on  a  line  approximately  four  miles  long  by  about  90,000  troops 
on  our  side  and  65, 000  on  theirs,  and  there  was  no  open  ground  anywhere 
wide  enough  for  a  division  to  deploy  on.  Artillery  could  have  been  used 
there,  but  only  in  shelling  woods  and  thickets  at  random.  The  battle  was, 
brought  on  by  the  Rebels  moving  up  to  us  on  the  pike  and  Plank  Road 
and  striking  the  flank  of  our  column  as  we  moved  along  the  Germania 
Road  and  the  Brock,  which  intersect  the  other  two  at  about  right  angles. 
The  Rebels  could  have  but  one  reasonable  object  in  this  move,  and  that 
must  have  been  the  hope  of  repeating  Chancellorsville.  It  has  been  stated 
that  Gen.  Lee  believed  that  he  had  us  whipped  on  the  night  of  the  6th, 
and  expected  that  we  would  retreat  back  across  the  Rapidan  or  toward 
Fredericksburg.  But  that  hope  was  soon  shattered.  As  for  the  fighting, 
it  was  simply  bushwhacking  on  a  grand  scale  in  brush  where  all  formation 
beyond  that  of  regiments  or  companies  wTas  soon  lost,  and  where  such  a 
thing  as  a  consistent  line  of  battle  on  either  side  wTas  impossible.  I  knew 
a  Wisconsin  infantryman  named  Holmes  who  walked  right  into  the  Rebel 
skirmish  line  on  the  6th  about  the  time  Wadsworth  was  killed.  He  sur 
rendered,  and  a  Rebel  wras  sent  to  the  rear  with  him.  In  two  minutes 
Holmes  and  his  guard  walked  right  into  our  own  lines,  and  that  in  broad 
daylight.  After  dark  on  the  5th  four  or  five  men  who  had  straggled  from 
Ayres's  Brigade  were  halted  by  Bartlett's  skirmishers,  surrendered  to  them, 
and  had  been  started  off  toward  the  Wilderness  Tavern  under  guard  before 
it  was  discovered  that  they  wrere  4ur  own  men.  During  the  night  of  the 
5th  two  men  came  back  to  the  Lacey  House,  both  slightly  wounded.  One 
was  a  Rebel,  belonging  to  Hill's  Corps,  and  the  other  was  one  of  our  men 
from  Crawford's  Division.  They  had  got  together  in  the  brash  ;  both  had 
lost  their  muskets,  and  as  the  brush  was  getting  afire  they  made  the  best 


168 


THE  CANNONEER. 


of  their  way  out  of  it  together,  taking  their  chances  as  to  which  of  the  two 
lines  they  might  fall  into.  A  man  named  Coombs,  of  the  44th  New  York, 
whom  I  knew,  got  lost  in  Bartlett's  attack  in  the  afternoon  of  the  5th,  and 
after  dark  found  himself  away  down  to  our  left  among  the  troops  of  the 
Second  Corps,  on  the  Brock  Eoad,  and  he  had  passed  at  least  two  miles  in 
the  rear  of  the  Kebel  lines,  and  through  them  twice,  unchallenged.  He 
told  me  that  when  he  came  to  the  Second  Corps  front  on  the  Brock  Road 
about  10  o'clock  at  night  and  was  halted,  he  answered  :  "I  belong  to  the 
44th  New  York  ;  who  in  the  -  are  you?  "  He  hadn't  the  remotest  idea 
where  he  was. 

The  Rebel  prisoners  taken  on  the  6th  seemed  convinced  that  we  were 
whipped  and  must  retreat.  They  had  an  idea  that  they  had  cut  our  army 
in  two,  and  that  the  Second  Corps  was  totally  cut  off  below  the  Plank  Road. 
It  was  impossible  to  make  them  understand  that  we  were  only  just  begin 
ning  to  fight.  There  were  hundreds  of  such  instances. 

One  old  fellow  was  brought  up  out  of  the  brush  at  the  south  edge  of 
the  Lacey  Clearing.  He  belonged  to  the  5th  Texas,  of  Gregg's  Brigade. 
He  had  been  hit  in  the  shin  by  a  bullet,  which  had  temporarily  paralyzed 
his  leg  without  breaking  the 
bone,  at  the  extreme  point  of 
their  advance  in  the  after 
noon  of  the  6th,  and  so  was 
left  in  our  hands  when  they 
fell  back.  Some  of  the  boys 
asked  him  what  he  thought 
of  the  battle.  He  was  a  comi 
cal  old  cuss,  and  his  reply  was, 
"Battle  be  --  !  It  ain't  no 
battle  !  It's  a  worse  riot  than 
Chickamauga  was!"  (He 
had  been  with  Longstreet  at 
Chickamauga  the  Fall  be 
fore.  )  '  '  You  Yanks  don't  call 
this  a  battle,  do  you?  At 
Chickamauga  there  was  at 
least  a  rear,  but  here  there 
ain't  neither  front  nor  rear. 


It's  all  a 


mess!     And 


COMRADE  FROM  BUENA  VISTA. 


our  two  armies  ain't  nothin' 
but  howliii'  mobs!"  The 
sang  froid  of  this  grizzly  old  Texan  was  superb.  While  he  sat  there 
sopping  his  game  leg  with  a  wet  rag  and  gnawing  at  a  hardtack  and 
piece  of  pork  we  had  given  him  a  pretty  fresh  youngster  from  one  of  the 
batteries  came  along  and  stopped  to  chaff  with  him  a  little.  "Say, 
Uncle  Johnny,"  inquired  the  youngster,"  "Haven't  you  fellows  about 
made  up  your  minds  that  one  Southerner  can't  whip  five  Yankees?" 


A  POLITICAL  DISCUSSION.  169 

The  venerable  Eebel  looked  at  him  solemnly  and  responded:  "Son, 
'did  you  ever  hear  any  Southern  man  say  he  could  whip  five  Yankees?  " 

"N —  no  ;  I  don't  know  that  I  ever  did." 

"Well,  then,  whar  did  you  git  that  notion?" 

' '  Oh,  some  of  the  men  who  went  round  up  home  making  speeches  to 
raise  companies  told  us  that  the  Johnnies  bragged  that  one  Southerner 
could  whip  five  Yankees.  Maybe  they  told  us  that  to  get  our  dander  up  ! " 

' '  I  expected  as  much, ' '  replied  Uncle  Johnny.  ' *  Now  let  me  tell  you, 
Sonny,  that  that  story,  like  a  good  many  other  things  which  helped  to 
bring  on  this  war,  wasn't  nothin'  but  a Abolition  lie  ! ! " 

You  couldn't  phase  that  old  rooster  much.  He  won  our  hearts  by 
telling  us  that  he  had  been  in  the  2d  Kentucky  in  the  Mexican  war, 
and  had  helped  support  the  old  Battery  at  Buena  Vista. 

The  heavy  artillerymen  felt  keenly  the  jibes  which  the  veteran  infan 
try  and  light  artillerymen  poked  at  them  when  they  first  came  into  the 
field.  And  no  doubt  many  of  ourselves  were  sorry  about  it  when  we  saw 
their  thinned  ranks  a  few  days  later.  The  4th  New  York  Heavy  was 
•divided  up  among  the  artillery  brigades  of  the  Second,  Fifth  and  Sixth 
Corps,  one  battalion  to  each  at  the  beginning  of  the  campaign,  but  this 
arrangement  did  not  last  long.  They  were  officially  termed  the  Artillery 
Brigade  Guard ,  but  were  used  all  the  time  as  ordinary  infantry.  Com 
rade  F.  O.  Talbot,  1st  Maine  Heavy,  writes  to  me  as  follows  : 

It  is  very  late  and  perhaps  unnecessary  to  correct  the  veteran  infantry  and 
light  artillerymen  in  the  idea  that  they  entertained  of  the  notions,  hopes  and 
expectations  of  those  heavy  artillerymen  when  they  volunteered  in  the  Sum 
mer  of  1862.  But  I  wish  to  do  so,  as  I,  and  I  have  no  doubt  all  other  surviving 
heavies,  do  not  like  to  rest  any  longer  under  the  stigma  of  enlisting  with  such 
motives  as  were  and  are  ascribed  to  us.  The  surviving  veterans  (infantry 
and  light  artillery)  do  us  a  great  injustice  when  they  say  that  the  heavy  artil 
lerymen  enlisted  with  the  hope  of  staying  in  the  defenses  of  Washington,  eat 
ing  three  square  meals  a  day  and  sleeping  on  a  good  bed  every  night,  and  doing- 
no  fighting  except  possibly  behind  good  earthworks.  I  also  have  to  say  that 
we  were  all  volunteers,  and  there  were  no  drafted  men  in  my  regiment.  I  en 
listed  in  the  18th  Maine  in  August,  1862,  as  a  private,  and  went  with  my  com 
pany  to  the  end,  and  for  five  months  after  the  end.  The  regiment  enlisted  as 
infantrymen,  with  the  hope  and  expectation  of  going  right  into  business  and 
helping  the  veterans  finish  the  war.  Well,  after  we  arrived  in  Washington, 
we,  with  several  other  regiments,  were,  by  order  of  the  War  Department  and 
much  to  our  disgust,  made  heavy  artillerymen  and  put  into  the  forts  and  bat 
teries  around  the  city.  We,  the  1st  Maine  Heavy,  were  to  a  man  disappointed, 
mad  and  rebellious.  We  kicked.  We  felt  mean  and  degraded,  and  talked 
.among  ourselves  of  open  rebellion,  but  of  course  we  had  to  obey.  Then  all 
the  time  that  we  were  in  those  forts  almost  every  man  in  my  regiment  had  his 
mind  made  up  to  go  to  the  front  and  enlist  in  a  fighting  regiment  if  we  were 
•discharged  in  those  forts  and  the  war  not  ended.  We  chafed  and  fretted, 
sulked  and  swore  all  those  months,  and  when  at  last  we  did  receive  the  order 
to  go  to  the  front  in  May,  1864,  we,  to  a  man,  excepting,  of  course,  the  average 
number  of  coffee-boilers  to  be  found  in  all  regiments,  were  thankful,  and  we 
left  our  camp  with  cheers,  being  glad  to  go  and  see  service. 

When  we  reached  Fredericksburg  and  the  Wilderness  beyond  we  were  as 
tonished  and  mad  at  the  insulting  greetings  we  received  from  the  veterans. 
We  did  not  know  why  they  should  sneer  and  scoff  and  insult  us.  But  they  did 


170  THE  CANNONEER. 

so,  and  it  only  made  us  the  more  anxious  to  "go  in"  and  show  them  that  we 
could  fight,  which  we  proceeded  to  do  as  soon  as  we  were  given  a  chance,  and 
which  our  record  shows  we  did  do.  (Witness  Col.  Fox's  "  Losses  in  the  Rebel 
lion.")  The  1st  Maine  Heavy,  in  which  I  am  proud  to  have  served  more  than 
three  years,  lost  more  men  killed  in  percentage  than  any  regiment  in  the 
Union  armies  during  the  four  years.  It  also  lost  more  men  killed  and 
wounded  in  proportion  to  its  numbers  and  in  percentage  in  a  single  battle 
than  any  other  regiment  during  the  four  years.  (Gen.  Walker's  History  of 
Second  Corps.)  My  company  went  in  at  Spottsylvania  with  147  men  ;  30  days 
after  there  were  seven  of  us  left —  one  Sergeant  (myself ),  one  Corporal  and 
five  privates.  And  of  those  147  men  and  boys  there  were  only  10  "  coffee- 
boilers,"  not  a  larger  proportion,  I  think,  than  were  to  be  found  in  other  com 
panies  of  147  men  of  any  other  branch  of  the  service.  That  leaves  137  good 
boys— as  good  as  were  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  or  any  in  the  world.  We 
have  long  since  forgiven  the  veterans  for  their  scoffs  and  sneers,  but  it  is  time 
that  they  knew  that  the  "  Heavies  "  did  not  not  enlist  as  "  Heavies  "  and  did  not 
wish  to  be  "  Heavies ;"  that  we,  the  1st  Maine  Heavy,  enlisted  as  infantrymen, 
and  never  dreamed  of  being  heavy  artillerymen  until  made  so  against  our  will 
by  order  of  the  War  Department. 

Comrade  William  A.  Glenning,  6th  New  York  Heavy,  writes  to  say 
that  that  regiment  "was  raised  as  the  135th  New  York  Infantry.  Then, 
when  we  arrived  at  Washington,  we  were  made  heavy  artillery.  But  we 
joined  the  army  in  the  field  in  July,  1863,  and  never  left  it  until  the  'jig 
was  up'  at  Appomattox.  We  led  the  attack  at  Thoroughfare  Gap,  when 
the  Rebels  were  retreating  from  Gettysburg.  Some  regiments  of  heavy  ar 
tillery  may  have  remained  in  the  fortifications  about  Washington,  but  ours 
was  not  one  of  them.  All  the  '  earthworks  we  ever  manned '  were  those 
that  we  routed  the  Rebels  from,  and  we  *  manned '  a  good  many  of  that 
sort  of  '  earthworks, '  as  you  will  see  by  consulting  the  records  of  killed 
and  wounded. ' ' 

Without  doubt  the  crisis  of  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness  occurred  when 
Kershaw's  and  Field's  Divisions  broke  Hancock's  intrenched  line  at  or  near 
the  intersection  of  the  Brock  Road  and  the  Plank.  Gen.  Hancock  reported 
that  the  broken  line  there  was  restored  by  Gen.  Sprigg  Carroll's  Brigade, 
"assisted  by  some  other  troops,"  whose  designations  he  does  not  give. 
Gen.  Humphreys,  in  his  admirable  and  classic  history  of  the  great  Virginia 
campaign,  evidently  following  Hancock's  authority,  says  : 

Col.  Carroll,  of  Gibbon's  Division,  had  his  brigade  near  at  hand,  and  was 
ordered  by  Gen.  Birney  to  drive  them  out,  which  he  did,  moving  forward  at 
double  quick.  Gen.  Hancock's  dispatch  referring  to  this  says  that  both  the 
attack  and  counter  attack  were  of  the  handsomest  kind,  etc. 

Now,  Gen.  Humphreys  was  the  last  man  in  the  world  to  be  intention 
ally  unfair.  But  there  is  reliable  testimony  to  show  that  the  "  some  other 
troops ' '  mentioned  casually  by  Gen.  Hancock  bore  a  gallant  share  in  the 
work  of  restoring  the  line,  and  that  they  were  Fifth  Corps  troops,  too. 
Hence,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  this  affair  was  to  the  Wilderness  what  the 
repulse  of  Pickett  was  to  Gettysburg,  it  is  no  more  than  right  that  all  who 
participated  should  get  their  just  dues  in  history.  As  the  Battery  did  not 
go  with  Wadsworth  down  to  the  Plank  Road  on  the  6th  of  May,  the  writer 
could  have  no  knowledge  of  this  affair  based  upon  personal  observation ; 


CAPT.  HUG  UNIX'S  EXPERIENCE.  171 

but  several  comrades  of  the  Second  (Rice's)  Brigade  of  Wadsworth's  Di 
vision,  knowing  of  my  intention  to  prepare  this  sketch,  have  asked  me  to- 
state  all  the  facts.  Several  of  them,  including  Capt.  E.  R.  Graham,  56th 
Pennsylvania,  Brigade  Inspector,  have  written  detailed  accounts,  but  lack 
of  space  compels  me  to  condense  their  information. 

The  facts  are  that  Col.  Hofmann,  commanding  Rice's  Brigade,  was 
ordered  by  Hancock  in  person  to  retake  the  breastwork  in  his  front,  and  did 
so  in  a  terrific  charge,  hurling  the  exultant  Con  federates  pell-mell  out  of  the 
works  and  capturing  quite  a  number. 

The  Second  (Rice's)  Brigade  of  Wadsworth's  Division  was  composed  of 
the  14th  Brooklyn,  76th,  95th  and  147th  New  York  and  56th  Pennsylvania. 
It  was  one  of  the  smallest  brigades  in  the  Fifth  Corps  numerically,  going 
into  the  Wilderness  with  between  1,900  and  2,000  muskets,  but  its  losses 
May  5  and  6  aggregated  672,  among  whom  were  38  officers.  Capt.  Hugunin, 
of  the  147th  New  York,  in  a  letter  to  the  author,  gives  a  graphic  and  faithful 
account  of  what  was  about  the  average  experience  of  thousands.  He  says  : 

The  147th  New  York  was  on  the  left  of  the  brigade,  and  my  company  next 
to  the  left  of  the  regiment.  Skirmishers  were  out,  but  no  firing.  The  Colonel 
came  and  took  the  left  company  and  sent  them  in  as  skirmishers,  directing 
them  to  extend  out  to  the  left.  They  were  hardly  out  of  sight,  and  the  Colonel 
only  about  50  or  60  feet  in  front,  when  the  crash  came,  and  the  Colonel  (Frank 
C.  Miller)  fell,  shot  through  the  body,  and  was  taken  prisoner,  and  did  not  re 
turn  till  the  close  of  the  war.  We  afterward  heard  from  some  of  our  wounded 
skirmishers  who  lay  on  the  field  that  the  Rebels  advanced,  without  skirmish 
ers,  in  four  lines,  the  first  firing  and  lying  down,  the  other  lines  walking  over 
and  successively  firing.  Nothing  could  stand  it.  We  fired  once  and  then  were 
blown  away.  I  lost  four  killed  and  five  wounded  and  we  never  saw  a  Rebel ; 
the  brush  was  so  thick.  We  struck  the  command  about  20  rods  back.  When 
I  got  to  them  they  were  in  line ;  the  fact  was,  I  was  ashamed  to  run,  not  seeing 
any  one.  I  informed  the  Lieutenant-Colonel  that  the  Colonel  was  shot.  By 
this  time  they  were  on  us  again.  We  had  only  one  line.  We  fired  better  now, 
as  we  took  to  trees  and  hung  on  longer,  but  were  pushed  back  by  force  of 
numbers.  We  now  heard  firing  on  every  side.  We  would  rally  and  fire  and 
fall  back,  but  could  keep  no  line  for  the  brush.  Finally,  three  Captains  of  our 
regiment  found  ourselves  together,  with  a  few  of  our  men,  some  40  altogether, 
each  one  looking  for  the  regiment  and  the  colors.  While  consulting  the  Adju 
tant  joined  us.  We  were  lost,  or  the  regiment  at  least  was  lost,  for  we  could 
not  find  it.  Our  men  gathered  around  us  like  a  flock  of  sheep  waiting  for  salt. 
There  was  Capt.  James  Coey,  afterward  Postmaster  at  San  Francisco  for  eight 
years  and  Major-General  of  California  Militia ;  Capt.  A.  R.  Penfield,  at  present 
Assistant  Adjutant-General,  Department  of  New  York,  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic;  Adj't  H.  H.  Lyman,  the  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Oswego,  N.  Y.,  and 
the  writer.  I  was  the  oldest  man,  but  junior  officer,  and  knowing  the  temper 
of  our  field  officers  I  thought  they  had  gone  to  the  front.  But  where  was  the 
front?  We  heard  a  sputtering  on  all  sides  and  many  bullets  came  a-round.  I 
finally  proposed  to  form  line  and  advance  to  what  I  thought  was  the  front. 
The  Adjutant  thought  the  regiment  was  in  just  the  opposite  direction ;  so, 
when  we  started  in  a  northerly  direction,  he  went  south.  Lieut.  Esmond 
started  with  him,  but  after  going  a  few  rods  started  off  alone  more  to  the  left. 
He  said  he  had  hardly  left  the  Adjutant  before  he  saw  him  taken  prisoner  and 
give  up  his  sword ;  and  just  15  years  afterward,  while  Sheriff  of  Oswego  County, 
N.  Y.,  it  was  returned  to  him  by  the  Rebel  officer,  and  they  have  several  times 
exchanged  friendly  visits. 


172  THE  CANNONEER. 

Our  three  companies  advanced  some  half  a  mile  and  came  upon  four  com 
panies  of  Pennsylvania  Reserves  standing  in  line  at  "  order  arms,"  under  the 
command  of  a  Lieutenant-Colonel,  who  was  walking  back  and  forth  in  their 
front.  We  joined  their  right  and  aligned  on  them.  We  asked  the  officer  what 
he  was  doing  there  and  where  the  army  was.  He  replied  he  did  not  know ;  he 
was  waiting  for  orders.  I  asked  if  he  had  a  skirmish  line  out.  He  said  no.  So 
I  directed  some  of  our  men  to  go  out  some  200  yards  and  see  if  they  could  find 
anything  in  front ;  not  to  fire,  but  reconnoiter  and  come  back  and  report.  The 
way  I  assumed  command  was  a  caution,  and  later  I  would  not  have  dared  to 
do  so.  Our  videts  soon  returned,  having  found  a  lino  in  front.  I  said  to  Capt. 
Coey,who  was  the  senior,  "Jimmey,  that  Lieutenant-Colonel  acts  rather  nerv 
ous,  and  I  don't  want  to  stay  under  him ;  you  take  command  of  us  and  ask  him 
to  let  us  go  and  rejoin  our  regiment."  We  were  afterward  told  by  some  Rebel 
prisoners  that  they  were  making  preparations  to  take  those  companies  prison 
ers  when  they  saw  us  coming,  and  waited  to  get  us,  too,  and  as  we  left  they 
closed  in  and  took  those  four  companies  without  firing  a  shot.  We  thought 
we  fell  back  in  a  southerly  direction  to  the  place  where  we  entered  the  woods. 
.As  we  fell  back  we  found  the  leaves  on  fire,  and  some  one  calling  to  our  left. 
We  went  there  and  found  a  Rebel  with  a  broken  leg.  We  scraped  away  the 
leaves  around  him  and  gave  him  a  canteen  of  water.  Near  him  was  one  of  our 
men  in  a  similar  fix,  and  we  did  the  same  for  him ;  it  was  all  we  could  do. 
Starting  on,  we  ran  Into  a  Rebel  regiment  or  brigade  behind  an  old  brush 
fence ;  the  line  was  at  right  angles  to  our  line  of  retreat  and  on  the  left.  Capt. 
Coey  went  a  rod  or  so  toward  them  and  said,  "Who  are  you?"  An  officer 
stepped  out  and  said,  "  Rebs."  We  then  broke  into  a  trot  and  swept  along  their 
entire  front.  I  suppose  they  did  not  fire,  because  they  thought  they  had  us 
sure.  As  I  jumped  over  a  log  I  almost  stepped  on  a  Rebel  lying  close  to  it.  I 
reached  down,  rolled  him  over  and  said,  "Hello,  Johnny,  are  you  hurt?"  He 
made  some  reply,  and  I,  having  more  urgent  business,  put  on  after  the  boys. 
We  now  met  four  men  of  our  regiment  without  arms ;  we  stopped  and  asked 
them  where  they  were  going  and  what  they  were  doing  without  arms.  They 
said  that  right  over  there,  not  more  than  10  rods,  a  Rebel  officer  had  taken 
away  their  guns  and  sent  them  to  the  rear;  that  they  were  prisoners,  and  that 
we  were  inside  the  Rebel  lines  and  could  not  get  out.  We  told  them  we  guessed 
not  much,  and  to  look  around  and  find  some  guns  and  go  out  with  us.  We  then 
called  our  men  around  us  and  gave  them  the  situation,  and  asked  them  if  they 
would  stand  by  us  to  break  through  and  make  a  hole  somewhere.  They  said 
they  would.  So  we  advanced  a  little  ways  to  where  our  men  said  they  were 
disarmed,  and  sure  enough  there  was  a  skirmish  line  facing  us  and  a  mounted 
officer  riding  along  the  line.  Of  coure  we  halted,  and  I  directed  some  of  my 
men  to  fire  at  the  officer,  but  he  was  not  hit.  We  then  turned  squarely  to  the 
left,  following  down  their  skirmish  line  on  a  trot,  thinking  we  would  get  out 
of  the  corner  before  they  closed  up.  As  we  were  trotting  along  now  without 
any  formation  I  became  aware  of  some  one  at  my  side,  and  looking  up  was 
rather  surprised  to  see  a  tall,  fine-looking  young  man  in  gray,  with  a  carbine 
on  his  shoulder,  trotting  along  with  me.  He  was  smiling,  and  I  said,  "  Hello, 
Johnny,  are  you  going  out  with  us?"  He  said  he  reckoned  so,  but  the  next 
moment  he  was  missing,  and  I  saw  him  no  more.  I  think  we  must  have  run 
over  a  mile  when  we  came  out  to  a  clearing,  which  we  entered,  and  soon  saw 
"Old  Glory"  some  50  rods  to  our  left  around  a  corner  of  the  woods,  which 
proved  to  be  our  brigade  and  regiment.  We  had  been  given  up  as  lost.  This 
was  about  4  o'clock,  and  at  5  we  were  put  into  the  woods  again  to  find  the 
enemy,  whom  we  found  about  dark.  When  the  brigade  fell  back  they  entered 
the  clearing  from  where  we  started,  and  our  brigade  commander  seeing  some 
troops  on  a  knoll  a  little  to  the  left,  and  thinking  they  were  ours,  tried  to  rally 
his  brig'ade  on  them,  but  soon  found  they  were  Rebels. 

Some  time  after  the  war  I  became  acquainted  in  both  social  and  pro- 


GEN.  FIELD'S  ACCOUNT. 

fessional  relations  with  Gen.  Charles  W.  Field,  who  commanded  the  Sec 
ond  Division  of  Longstreet's  Corps  in  that  campaign  and  to  the  end.  At 
my  request  Gen.  Field  has  courteously  prepared  the  following  sketch  of 
the  Confederate  operations  at  the  crisis  of  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness  on 
Hancock's  front  the  6th  of  May.  It  will  be  found  not  only  vivid  in  nar 
ration  but  of  great  historical  value.  In  his  private  letter  accompanying  it 
the  General  playfully  says  that  ' '  it  may  go  to  history  as  his  official  report 
of  that  operation ' ' : 

Kershaw's  and  my  division,  of  Longstreet's  Corps  (Picket!  not  joining  for- 
some  days  later),  arrived  within  about  two  miles  of  the  Wilderness  after  a  fatig 
uing  and  rapid  march  over  the  Catharpin  Road  on  the  evening  of  May  5,  biv 
ouacking  about  two  miles  apart.  After  the  division  had  settled  to  rest  about  11 
p.  m.  I  was  directed  to  occupy,  early  the  next  morning,  the  position  held  by  Heth 
and  Wilcox.  Letting  my  tired  people  rest,  I  broke  camp  at  2  o'clock  a.  m.  and* 
moved  across  the  country  for  the  Orange  Plank  Road,  striking  it  at  Parker's 
Store  about  daylight.  The  head  of  Kershaw's  Division  was  observed  approach 
ing  in  column.  We  moved  together  in  parallel  columns  down  the  road,  and 
very  soon  were  met  by  broken  squads  of  Confederates  coming  to  the  rear,  in 
creasing  with  the  augmented  fire  and  cheers  of  the  pursuing  Federals.  The 
Texas  Brigade  was  quickly  put  into  line,  followed  by  Benning's,  of  Georgia, 
and  Law's,  of  Alabama,  on  the  left  of  the  road,  and  Jenkins's,  of  South  Caro 
lina,  and  Anderson's,  of  Georgia,  on  the  right.  Each  brigade  advanced  to  the 
attack  as  soon  as  in  line  of  battle,  and  the  Texas  Brigade,  being  in  front,  was 
the  first  to  lead  off,  when  this  incident  of  its  refusing  to  permit  Gen.  Lee  to 
lead  occurred.  The  moment  was  critical,  and  the  splendid  courage  of  that 
brigade  arid  Benning's  gave  the  first  check,  and  being  quickly  followed  by  my 
other  brigades  and  Kershaw  on  my  right  the  onset  of  the  Federals  was 
arrested.  They  were  finally  driven  back  a  few  hundred  yards  with  heavy  loss 
to  both  parties.  For  the  next  two  hours  the  fighting  to  the  right  and  left  of 
the  Plank  Road  was  very  severe  but  without  decisive  results,  the  casualties 
being  heavy,  Gens.  Benning  and  Law,  of  my  Division,  being  among  the 
wounded.  About  this  time  Gen.  Longstreet  informed  me  that  some  troops  had 
been  sent  around  to  threaten  the  Federal  left  flank,  and  at  a  concerted  signal 
I  was  to  attack  vigorously  his  front.  All  being  in  readiness  at  the  appointed 
moment  the  plan  succeeded,  the  enemy  was  dislodged  from  his  slight  breast- 
works  and  withdrew  beyond  our  fire. 

We  all  thought  then  the  battle  was  won,  and  it  was  won,  but  a  fatal  error 
committed  in  not  following  it  up  promptly  lost  its  fruits.  The  enemy  in  my 
front  having  passed  out  of  sight  and  hearing  my  division,  composed  of  Gregg's, 
Law's  and  Benning's  Brigades  in  line  of  battle  on  the  left  of  the  Plank  Road, 
Anderson's  on  the  right  and  Jenkins's  in  column  on  the  road,with  Gens.  Lee  and 
Longstreet  at  its  head,  moved  rapidly  forward  to  find  him.  As  Gens.  Lee  and 
Longstreet  joined  me  at  the  front  the  latter  seized  my  hand  and  congratu 
lated  me  on  the  brilliant  work  just  done.  As  we  rode  chatting  down  the  road 
Gen.  Lee  and  myself  stopped  a  moment  to  have  a  log  and  rail  obstruction  re 
moved  from  it,  Longstreet  and  Brig.-Gen.  Jenkins  with  their  staffs  continuing 
on.  They  had  gotten  50  yards  ahead  when  a  volley  from  the  woods  on  the 
right  was  delivered,  instantly  killing  Jenkins  and  several  of  his  staff  and  cou 
riers,  and  seriously  wounding  Longstreet  in  the  right  shoulder.  We  soon 
learned  that  this  fire  came  from  our  own  troops  — Mahone's  Brigade,  I  think  — 
which  had  been  employed  in  the  flank  movement  and  approaching  the  Plank 
Road  on  a  perpendicular  line  had  in  the  underbrush  mistaken  Longstreet  for  • 
the  retiring  Federals.  Longstreet  being  lifted  from  his  horse  and  propped 
against  a  tree,  awaiting  a  surgeon  and  stretcher,  directed  me  to  take  command 
of  the  corps  and  push  ahead. 


174  THE  CAXXOXEEB. 

Had  this  movement  been  made  promptly,  I  have  always  believed  Grant 
would  have  been  driven  across  the  Rapidau  before  night,  but  Gen.  Lee  was 
present  and  ordered  that  our  line,  which  was  nearly  aright  angle  (my  division 
being  the  base  and  Kershaw's  and  the  other  flanking  force  the  perpendicular), 
should  first  be  straightened.  The  difficulty  of  manuveriiig  through  the  brush 
made  this  a  tedious  operation,  so  that  when  we  did  advance,  with  large  rein 
forcements  from  Ewell's  Corps  placed  under  my  orders,  the  enemy  was  found 
awaiting  us  behind  new  breastworks  and  thoroughly  prepared  and  expecting 
us.  Nevertheless  the  assault  was  gallantly  made,  and  at  one  point  at  least  his 
breastworks  temporarily  taken  by  a  part  of  my  division.  We  were,  however, 
too  weak  to  hold  them  against  their  reinforcements  and  were  compelled  to 
fall  back,  leaving  some  wounded  and  prisoners  in  the  works,  among  them 
Col.  Van  H.  Manning,  of  the  3d  Arkansas  regiment,  serving  in  the  Texas  Bri- 
;gade. 

Though  several  later  attempts  on  that  part  of  the  field  were  made,  the 
spirit  animating  our  earliest  etf  ort  was  wanting1  and  no  serious  advantage  was 
gained.  Among  the  many  killed  and  wounded  which  were  left  in  our  rear  as  we 
gained  ground  to  the  front  was  the  chivalrous  Gen.  Wadsworth,  of  New  York. 
Though  mortally  wounded  and  unable  to  articulate,  he  was  apparently  con 
scious,  and  it  is  a  pleasing  reflection  that  myself  and  associates  did  all  in  our 
power  to  alleviate  his  sufferings.  He  was  tenderly  propped  against  a  tree  and 
provided  with  water,  and  every  attention  and  respect  shown  him  which  kind 
ness  could  suggest.  The  battle  was  really  ended  on  the  6th,  for  though  there 
was  some  desultory  firing  on  the  7th  there  was  never  a  serious  and  combined 
effort  made  on  either  side. 

The  battle  of  the  Wilderness  was  unique  in  military  history.  Never 
before  had  so  great  a  battle  been  fought  on  such  ground  or  under  such  cir 
cumstances.  Tactically  it  did  not  reflect  much  credit  on  any  of  the  Generals, 
Union,  or  Confederate.  It  was  throughout  a  ' '  soldier's  battle, ' '  and,  so  long 
as  history  endures,  it  will  stand  as  a  marvellous  though  melancholy  evi 
dence  of  the  courage,  fortitude  and  devotion  of  the  American  race  embattled. 
We  had  lost  heavily,  but  so  had  the  Johnnies,  and,  as  it  proved,  we  could 
afford  it  better  than  they  could.  As  a  factor  in  the  general  result,  my  de 
liberate  conclusion  is  that  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness  was  a  disaster  to  the 
Rebel  cause  on  the  whole.  They  had  made  the  most  of  their  advantages  of 
position  and  the  nature  of  the  ground ;  they  had  fought  better  than  ever 
before,  and  though  we  were  considerably  superior  to  them  in  total  numbers 
the  peculiarity  of  the  situation  —  broken  country  and  thick  brush,  where 
every  wood-road  and  cow-path  was  well  known  to  them  and  strange  to  our 
troops  —  largely  neutralized  this  advantage.  We  lost  more  men  than  they 
did  ;  but  their  losses  were  larger  than  ours,  reckoned  by  percentage  of  num 
bers  engaged.  And  we  could  repair  our  losses,  while  they  could  not  replace 
their  dead  and  disabled  men.  Hence  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness  was  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  a  defeat  for  the  Rebels,  estimated  in  the  light  of 
subsequent  events. 

There  are  no  exact  official  data  as  to  the  Confederate  losses  in  the  Wil 
derness.  From  such  fragmentary  reports  as  are  extant,  and  estimating  the 
whole  upon  the  basis  of  percentages  deduced  from  the  fragments,  it  appears 
that  their  loss  was  between  11,500  and  12,000  men,  or  about  18  to  19  per 
•  cent,  of  those  engaged. 


LOSSES  ix  THE  WILDERNESS.  175 

The  losses  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  were  as  follows  : 

SECOND  CORPS. 

First  Division 881 

Second  Division 1,257 

Third  Division 2,241 

Fourth  Division 699 

Artillery  Brigade 11 

5,089 

FIFTH  CORPS. 

First  Division (. 1,748 

Second  Division 792 

Third  Division 573 

Fourth  Division 2,007 

Artillery  Brigade 11 

5,131 

SIXTH  CORPS. 

First  Division 1,028 

Second  Division 2,991 

Third  Division 991 

Artillery  Brigade 22 

5,033 

CAVALRY  CORPS. 

First  Division 315 

Second  Division 161 

Third  Division 229 

Horse-Artillery 5 

710 

Total  Reserve  Artillery 56 


Total  Army  of  the  Potomac 16,018 

NINTH  CORPS. 

First  Division 535 

Second  Division 562 

Third  Division 521 

Cavalry  Brigade 13 

Provisional  Brigade 9 

1,640 


Grand  total  Union  losses 17,658 


These  figures  are  official,  and  are  those  which  will  appear  in  the  War 
Eecords  when  published. 

During  May  7  we  remained  all  day  in  the  positions  occupied  at  the 
close  of  the  Wilderness  battle,  engaged  in  drawing  and  cooking  rations, 
repairing  damages,  etc.,  and  about  9  o'clock  that  night  the  Fifth  Corps 
moved  out  on  the  Brock  Road  for  Spottsylvania  Courthouse.  The  batteries 
marched  with  the  divisions.  The  night  was  very  dark,  and  the  infantry 
straggled  to  such  an  extent  that  it  was  1  o'clock  of  May  8  before  the  last 
battery,  Rittenhouse's,  left  the  Lacey  House.  From  that  time  until  day 
light  the  rear  of  the  column  did  not  make  more  than  half  a  mile  an  hour. 
About  6:30  a.  m.,  our  cavalry  being  held  in  check  by  the  enemy,  Robin- 
•son's  Division,  with  Martin's  and  Breck's  Batteries,  followed  by  Griffin, 
with  Mink's,  Phillips's  and  Richardson's  Batteries,  moved  past  the  cav- 


176  THE   CANNONEER. 

airy  and  pushed  on  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  beyond  the  Alsop  House, 
Breck's  Battery  was  left  in  position  on  the  high  ground  close  to  this  house, 
while  Capt.  Martin  moved  to  the  front  with  his  battery  and  went  into 
position  on  the  right  of  the  Maryland  Brigade  near  the  point  of  woods- 
where  Gen.  Sedgwick  fell  the  day  after,  and  where  the  two  branches  of  the 
road  which  separate  in  the  rear  of  the  Alsop  House  again  come  together. 
Capt.  Martin  here  brought  his  battery  into  position  and  fired  solid  shot 
into  the  woods  on  the  opposite  rise  to  enable  our  infantry  to  gain  posses 
sion  of  it,  but  failing  in  this,  and  Robinson's  infantry  being  driven  back, 
the  battery  fell  back  with  them  by  the  right-hand  road,  about  half  a  mile, 
to  a  small  knoll  which  commanded  the  valley  of  a  little  stream  running 
from  our  right  into  the  Po.  In  the  withdrawal  of  his  battery  Capt. 
Martin  received  a  severe  wound  in  the  back  of  his  neck,  just  grazing 
the  spine,  and  the  command  of  the  battery  devolved  upon  Lieut.  Wal- 
cott. 

The  other  divisions  as  they  came  up  were  formed  on  the  right  and  left 
of  the  Alsop  House,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  its  front,  and  Mink  and 
Richardson  took  position  around  the  house.  An  attempted  advance  of  the 
enemy  was  checked  at  this  point  with  the  aid  of  the  fire  of  these  batteries, 
and  on  the  arrival  of  the  rest  of  the  corps  and  Wright's  Division,  of  the 
Sixth,  our  line  was  again  pushed  forward  to  the  point  first  gained,  which 
continued  to  be  the  salient  of  our  line  through  the  remainder  of  the  battle. 
The  batteries  were  now  disposed  as  follows  :  Breck's,  Mink's  and  Richard 
son's  in  position  on  the  right  of  the  main  —  Brock — road,  commanding  the 
little  valley  leading  to  the  Po,  Richardson  relieving  Walcott,  who  joined 
our  Battery  then  advancing,  and  the  two  moved  forward  to  the  position 
from  which  Robinson's  Division  had  recently  been  driven.  Robinson's 
attack  had  evidently  been  simply  a  feeler,  as  Gen.  Warren,  accompanied  by 
some  of  his  staff  and  Stewart,  Mink  and  Martin  of  the  battery  commanders, 
had  reconnoitered  down  the  road  on  the  arrival  of  the  head  of  column  in 
the  morning.  They  had  discovered  that  the  enemy  was  busy  intrenching 
across  the  Brock  Road  in  front  of  Spindler's  House,  where  the  road  to  the 
1 '  Old  Courthouse ' '  forks  with  the  Brock,  and  that  they  had  guns  in  position 
there.  This  position,  as  we  afterward  learned  to  our  cost,  was  very  advan 
tageous.  It  seemed  that  Gen.  Warren  did  not  at  first  apprehend  the 
strength  of  the  Rebel  position.  He  had  Gen.  Merritt  dismount  some  of 
his  cavalry  and  form  them  off  to  the  right  of  the  old  road  as  flankers, 
and  then  proceeded  to  assault  the  enemy's  works  with  Robinson's 
Division,  Gen.  Warren  leading  the  troops  in  person  in  his  full-dress 
Major-General's  uniform,  sash  and  all,  and  mounted  on  his  big  dapple- 
gray  charger. 

Gen.  Robinson  was  badly  wounded,  and  his  troops  driven  back  in 
some  confusion  about  the  Alsop  House.  Gen.  Warren  did  not  seem  to  pro 
ceed  with  his  usual  caution  here.  The  march  the  night  before  had  been 
very  hard  and  fatiguing  to  the  infantry,  who  not  only  marched  several 
miles,  but  had  been  compelled  to  help  clear  the  road  of  trees  that  the 


LIEUT.  GOODMAN  KILLED.  177 

Rebels  had  felled  across  it  in  their  retreat ;  and,  as  this  was  early  in  the 
morning,  they  had  not  rested  a  bit,  except  to  breakfast  on  hardtack,  pork 
and  cold  water,  there  having  been  no  chance  to  make  coffee. 

After  the  war  I  met  Gen.  Warren  at  the  Ebbitt  House,  in  Washington, 
and,  having  known  him  before,  said  very  much  these  things  to  him.  He 
said  that  his  idea  was  then  that  the  Rebels  had  only  reached  that  point  the 
same  morning,  or  late  that  night,  and  so  he  thought  they  could  not  have 
intrenched  much,  and  hence  the  test  thing  to  do  was  to  attack  them  at 
once,  before  they  could  get  a  chance  to  dig.  But  if  he  had  known  that 
they  had  been  there  all  night,  as  was  afterward  clearly  ascertained,  he 
would  have  attacked  with  the  artillery  first  and  put  the  infantry  in  after 
ward.  However,  after  the  repulse  of  Robinson's  Division,  it  was  apparent 
that  they  would  have  to  be  pretty  well  shaken  up  with  artillery  before 
infantry  could  do  anything,  so  ours  and  Martin's  (Walcott's)  Massachu 
setts  Battery  were  now  ordered  up  some  distance  beyond  the  Alsop  Houser 
forming  an  artillery  skirmish  line  of  12  guns,  and  opened  with  spherical 
case  at  a  "2-second  range  "  —  that  is  to  say,  about  600  yards  —  on  12  or  14 
guns  of  the  enemy,  well  posted.  Just  back  of  the  Alsop  House  the  Brock 
Road  forks,  making  what  the  inhabitants  there  called  the  "old  road"  and 
the  ' '  new  road. ' '  The  ' '  new  road ' '  is  the  easterly  one  of  the  two.  They 
come  together  again  just  before  reaching  the  Spindler  House,  where  the 
Rebels  had  made  their  earthwork  across  the  road,  with  redoubts  in  the 
form  of  bastions  raking  its  front  or  taking  the  road  from  either  side  en 
echarpe.  In  these  works  they  had  their  guns  mounted,  and  long  flanking 
breastworks  on  either  side  full  of  infantry.  The  thick  brush  came  up 
close  to  the  "old  road,"  on  the  west,  while  the  "new  road,"  on  the  east, 
ran  along  the  bank  of  a  little  ravine  or  gully  formed  by  a  rivulet  that  headed 
right  in  front  of  the  Rebel  works,  and  ran  north  into  the  Ny.  The  space 
between  the  two  roads  was  mostly  an  "old  field,"  with  little  clumps  of 
stunt  pine  and  jack-oak  trees,  all  bare  and  desolate,  as  if  good  for  nothing 
except  to  fight  a  battle  on.  The  place  where  we  unlimbered  was  unfavor 
able.  The  ground  rose  a  little  in  our  front,  so  that  we  could  not  see  the 
Rebels'  heads  over  the  low  crest.  We  would  have  done  our  work  better  if 
we  had  gone  on  the  higher  ground  to  our  right  and  unlimbered  there, 
though,  of  course,  that  would  have  brought  us  within  easy  musket  range 
of  their  flanking  works,  which  was  not  the  case  where  we  were.  However, 
the  old  Battery  was  used  to  ' '  easy  musket  range, ' '  and  we  always  had  a 
partiality  for  point-blank  business.  Be  this  as  it  may,  we  went  in  here 
and  opened  with  case,  sighting  the  guns  to  graze  the  low  crest  in  our  front. 
The  enemy  replied  with  spirit,  and  one  of  the  first  men  hit  in  the  Battery 
was  Lieut.  Thomas  Goodman,  commanding  the  left  section.  Lieut.  Good 
man  had  recently  joined  us,  and  was  only  serving  with  our  Battery  tem 
porarily.  He  was  a  volunteer  officer  from  one  of  the  Jersey  batteries. 

As  the  firing  began  he  said  something  to  Serg't  Thorpe  or  Sanborn,  and 
had  hardly  got  the  wrords  out  of  his  mouth  when  he  was  hit,  fell  mortally 
wounded,  and  died  a  few  days  afterward.     The  practice  was  very  difficult. 
12 


178 


THE  CAXXONEER. 


DEATH  OF  LIEUT.  GOODMAN. 


If  we  cleared  the  crest  in  our  front  the  case  shot  would  either  explode  in  the 
air  or  go  clear  over.    Hence  it  was  necessary  to  ' '  graze ' '  them  and  let  them 

explode  as  they  struck,  which 
would  send  their  bullets  and 
fragments  tumbling  in  on  top 
of  the  Eebels  in  their  re 
doubts.  This,  as  any  artil 
lerist  knows,  is  the  very 
hardest  kind  of  practice.  If 
the  crest  is  close  to  you,  all 
you  have  to  do  is  reduce  your 
powder  charge  till  you  get 
the  exact  range,  and  then  you 
can  drop  your  shells  or  case 
right  on  top  of  them,  mortar- 
fashion.  But  in  this  affair 
the  crest  was  close  to  the 
Rebels  and  distant  from  us, 
so  that  we  couldn't  make 
"mortar -practice,"  but,  as 
above  stated,  had  to  explode 
our  case  shot ' '  on  the  graze, ' ' 
to  do  any  execution. 
On  the  contrary,  the  Rebels  had  a  chance  of  "mortar-practice"  at  us, 
as  above  explained,  and  they  certainly  made  the  most  of  it.  However,  we 
rapidly  got  the  upper  hand  as  soon  as  we  established  our  range,  and  in 
about  half  an  hour  they  ceased  to  reply.  Griffin's  Division  was  now 
brought  forward  again,  and  we  limbered  up  and  took  a  new  position  to  our 
right  of  the  east  road,  close  to  the  edge  of  the  woods  and  near  the  crest  of 
the  high  ground,  where  we  proceeded  to  shell  the  enemy's  infantry  in  their 
breastworks  preparatory  to  Gen.  Griffin's  attack. 

At  this  point,  as  we  were  on  the  high  ground  where  there  were  no 
springs  or  brooks,  we  were  distressed  for  want  of  water,  our  canteens  having 
been  emptied  during  the  night  march  and  at  breakfast  in  the  morning. 
Besides,  we  could  not  replenish  our  buckets  with  water  to  sponge  with.  So 
some  of  our  men  went  off  to  the  right,  where  there  was  a  little  hollow,  in 
which  it  was  supposed  water  could  be  found.  They  found  both  water  and 
fire  ;  for  the  enemy  had  come  out  of  his  trenches,  and  his  skirmishers  at 
tacked  this  party,  wounding  and  capturing  one  of  them —  "Brig"  John 
son  —  who  never  came  back,  and  who  was  said  to  have  ended  his  days  amid 
the  horrors  of  Anderson ville  some  time  afterward.  "Brig"  was  a  good, 
honest  fellow,  brave  and  faithful,  and  as  his  time  would  have  been  out  in 
a  few  weeks  his  fate  was  particularly  hard. 

At  this  time  it  was  apparent  that  Gen.  Warren  intended  to  repeat  his 
assault  with  the  infantry.  Bartlett's  Veteran  Brigade  now  denied  into  the 
edge  of  the  brush,  past  our  right,  deployed  out  toward  the  slashed  woods  on 


BARTLETT'S  ATTACK.  179 

the  left  front  of  the  Rebel  works,  and  in  five  minutes  that  eternal  crash  of 
musketry  began  again.  We  could  now  see  that  the  enemy  had  pulled  his 
guns  out  of  his  advanced  works  and  was  positioning  them  in  the  heavier 
retrenched  work  in  his  second  line,  leaving  only  infantry  in  his  old  works 
at  the  forks  of  the  road.  That  Bartlett  would  have  taken  this  line  at  the 
first  dash  is  certain  but  for  the  slashing.  Some  of  his  men  did  get  into  the 
enemy's  works  on  their  right,  but  had  to  get  out  again  in  consequence  of 
the  others  not  being  able  to  get  through  the  slashing.  It  was  said  that  the 
16th  Michigan  had  their  colors  planted  on  the  enemy's  breastwork  for  some 
minutes  in  this  charge.  The  late  Congressman  James  Laird,  of  Nebraska, 
then  a  private  soldier  in  the  16th  Michigan,  is  my  authority  for  this. 

Comrade  Joseph  B.  Potter,  Sergeant  83d  Pennsylvania,  says  of  this 
charge  : 

In  forming  for  the  charge  our  line  was  not  parallel  to  that  of  the  Rebels, 
but  our  right  too  much  advanced.  The  16th  Michigan,  being  upon  the  right, 
struck  the  Rebel  line  ahead  of  us  and  the  44th  New  York,  yet  there  was  no 
break  in  our  line,  as  might  be  inferred  from  the  description  given  by  Mr.  Laird. 
That  we  were  there  is  shown  by  my  diary  giving  the  names  of  33  killed,  304 
wounded  and  63  missing  out  of  a  roll  of  530  in  the  whole  regiment.  My  com 
pany  (H)  had  15  reported  missing.  Of  that  15  there  were  five  returned  to  us, 
being  recaptured  by  our  cavalry  at  Trevillian  Station,  while  the  other  10  have 
never  been  heard  from,  and  the  same  ratio  for  the  regiment  added  to  the  killed 
would  make  it  74  killed  and  304  wounded,  out  of  a  possible  530,  in  less  than  30 
minutes.  If  it  is  remembered  that  neither  army  ever  had  possession  of  that 
field ;  that  the  dead  were  not  buried  until  the  close  of  the  war  (a  year  after 
ward),  I  think  it  should  be  conceded  that  those  forever  missing  should  be 
classed  as  killed,  for  no  accurate  list  of  the  killed  ever  was  or  ever  could  have 
been  made. 

Gen.  Bartlett  himself  has  said  to  the  author  that  his  brigade  took  a 
few  prisoners  from  some  part  of  these  works.  But,  on  the  whole,  Bartlett 
was  repulsed  from  the  Eebel  main  line,  though  his  troops  and  those  of 
Ayres  did  not  retire  very  far,  but  took  up  and  intrenched  our  line  on  the 
crest,  which  was  held  during  the  rest  of  the  fighting  about  Spottsylvania 
Courthouse.  At  night  our  Battery  was  withdrawn  to  an  inner  line  nearer 
our  first  position. 

The  first  day  of  Spottsylvania  was  over.  Night  settled  down  on  the 
scene,  and  a  cold,  drizzling  rain  fell  nearly  till  morning.  Our  losses  were 
three  men  killed,  three  mortally  wounded,  and  eight  or  10  wounded,  of 
whom  six  were  disabled,  besides  five  or  six  others  slightly  hit.  The  phe 
nomenally  large  percentage  of  killed  to  wounded  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  casualties  were  all  from  artillery  fire,  all  the  men  hit  being  struck  by 
solid  shot  or  pieces  of  shell  or  case  shot.  Lieut.  Goodman  was  hit  in  the 
head,  and  fell  after  staggering  about  10  feet.  As  soon  as  Lieut.  Goodman 
fell,  Stewart,  who,  with  all  his  courage  and  even  ferocity  in  battle,  could 
never  bear  to  see  one  of  his  men  die,  turned  and  went  out  of  the  section 
toward  the  right  of  the  Battery.  But  Goodman  got  right  up,  and,  though 
his  head  was  bleeding,  appeared  to  be  not  badly  hurt.  The  ball  had  just 
grazed  his  head  without  penetrating  the  skull.  It  was  doubtless  one  of 
the  flying  missiles  from  an  exploding  case  shot.  Serg't  Thorpe,  com- 


180  THE  CANXONEEK. 

inanding  the  No.  1  gnn  of  the  left  section,  picked  up  Goodman's  cap  and 
handed  it  to  him.  The  shot  had  driven  the  cross-cannons  of  the  artillery 
clear  through  the  cap.  Goodman  took  the  cap,  thanked  Serg't  Thorpe  for 
his  attention,  and  said,  laughingly,  "It's  only  a  scratch,  but  it  was  a  close 
call. "  Then  he  almost  instantly  fainted.  He  was  then  taken  to  the  rear, 
and  died  in  a  few  days. 

I  was  knocked  down  in  our  first  position  by  the  air  concussion  of  a 
shell,  which  exploded  almost  in  my  face,  killed  one  man  and  wounded 
several  others,  but  was  not  hurt,  except  a  queer  numbness  about  my  head 
and  temporary  deafness.  One  man's  head  was  partly  shot  ofif,  and  he  was 
a  frightful  spectacle  !  You  could  distinctly  see  the  fragments  of  his  skull 
fly  !  He  must  have  been  struck  in  the  face  by  an  unexploded  shell  or  solid 
shot,  and  never  knew  what  hurt  him.  He  was  not  one  of  our  own  men, 
but  belonged  to  an  infantry  regiment  in  Eobinson's  Division,  and  being 
separated  from  his  command  had  come  into  the  Battery.  From  letters, 
etc.,  in  his  blouse  pocket  his  name  was  ascertained  to  be  Paul  Winegar, 
but  the  number  of  his  regiment  has  passed  from  my  memory.  This  com 
bat  at  Spottsylvania  was  a  regular  "slugging  match"  between  batteries, 
with  the  advantage  of  position  and  lay  of  the  ground  largely  in  favor  of 
the  enemy.  He  served  his  guns  rapidly  and  well,  but  many  of  his  case 
shot  and  shell  howled  just  over  our  heads  or  tore  up  the  ground  in  our 
midst  without  bursting.  Maj.  Dupre,  late  of  the  Confederate  army,  who 
was  then  serving  in  one  of  the  batteries  opposed  to  us,  says  that  their  fuses 
were  nearly  all  bad,  so  that  their  shell  and  case  were  little  better  than  solid 
shot  would  have  been  ;  whereas,  he  says,  nearly  every  one  of  our  case  shot 
burst  right  in  their  faces,  so  -that,  notwithstanding  that  they  were  partially 
covered  by  the  slight  redoubts  they  had  made  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
night,  we  soon  made  the  position  untenable. 

In  this  action  Stewart  had  abundant  opportunity  to  show  his  skill  as 
an  artillerist.  He  got  hurt  in  one  leg  some  way,  probably  by  a  stone  torn 
up  by  a  grazing  shot,  or  perhaps  a  piece  of  spent  shell,  but  paid  no  atten 
tion  to  it.  He  limped  along  from  gun  to  gun,  instructing  the  Gunners  and 
praising  the  Cannoneers.  He  would  watch  a  shot,  and  when  he  saw  the 
dirt  fly  from  the  crest  where  the  shot  grazed  and  then  exploded  he  would 
slap  the  Gunner  on  the  back  and  tell  him,  "You've  got  her  just  right,  now, 
my  son ;  keep  her  right  there  ! "  He  got  a  brevet  of  Captain  for  that  day's 
service,  and  we  always  considered  the  work  of  the  Battery  the  first  day 
of  Spottsylvania  as  the  finest  piece  of  purely  artillery  practice  under  diffi 
culties  of  position  and  ground  that  it  had  ever  made. 

Stewart  was  very  proud  of  our  performance  the  8th  of  May.  Prior  to 
that  time  the  history  of  the  Battery  had  been  mainly  rough-and-tumble 
fights  with  infantry  at  close  quarters,  which  involved  simple  ' '  slugging ' ' 
with  double  canister,  as  at  Antietam  and  Gettysburg,  with  very  little  op 
portunity  for  nice  artillery  practice.  At  Fredericksburg  the  Battery  had 
engaged  the  enemy's  artillery  at  a  fair  range,  and  had  driven  one  of  his 
batteries  out  of  action  after  dismounting  one  of  his  guns  and  blowing  up 


COLD-BLOODED  WORK.  181 

a  caisson  or  two.  But  this  fight  at  Spottsylvania  was  purely  an  artillery 
combat,  undisturbed  by  infantry  fire,  except  occasional  pot-shots  by  sharp 
shooters  at  very  long  range,  which  had  little  effect.  It  was  fought  under 
circumstances  of  position  and  ground  calculated  to  bring  into  play  all  the 
skill  and  precision  that  an  artilleryman  can  command.  The  enemy  was 
screened  from  point-blank  fire  by  an  elevation  in  his  front,  and  was,  be 
sides,  protected  by  slight  epaulements  of  earth  and  logs,  which  he  had 
thrown  up  during  the  previous  night,  while  we  had  no  protection  whatever. 
On  all  sides  there  was  universal  praise  for  the  behavior  of  the  Battery  — 
from  Gens.  Warren,  Griffin,  Cutler,  Bartlett,  Ayres  and  Wain wright,  Chief 
of  Artillery  of  the  Fifth  Corps.  Walcott's  3d  Massachusetts  Battery,  in 
line  with  us,  though  at  some  little  distance,  was  also  superbly  served, 
though,  as  it  was  not  in  such  an  exposed  position  as  we  were  in,  and,  lie- 
sides,  as  the  enemy  seemed  to  concentrate  his  fire  more  on  us,  the  Bay 
State  boys  did  not  suffer  as  much  as  we  did.  Stewart  wrote  a  very  fine 
report  of  this  engagement,  mentioning  a  good  many  of  the  boys  and  call 
ing  Gen.  Wainwright's  attention  to  their  conduct.  This  report  unfortu 
nately  is  not  on  file  among  the  War  Records,  and  Capt.  Stewart  tells  me 
that  the  copy  of  it  which  he  retained  was  destroyed  by  fire  some  years 
ago.  A  protracted  artillery  duel,  such  as  we  had  at  Spottsylvania,  is  by  no 
means  so  stirring  an  event  as  a  close-quarter  fight  with  charging  infantry, 
like  the  Gettysburg  Railroad  Cut  or  the  Antietam  Cornfield,  and  hence 
does  not  admit  of  such  vivid  description.  When  a  battery  is  fighting  in 
fantry  in  that  way  it  is  simply  an  exchange  of  double  canister  for  mus 
ketry,  and  while  in  s^ich  cases  the  casualties  are  almost  always  severe  if  the 
infantry  stands  up  to  its  work  well,  the  conditions  of  the  fight  will  be  ex 
citing  and  inspiring  to  the  Cannoneers,  so  that  they  will  not,  for  the  time 
l>eing,  realize  the  full  extent  of  their  danger,  but  will  be  absorbed  by  a 
desire  to  destroy  the  infantry  in  their  front.  For  this  reason  a  well-trained 
battery  always  appears  at  its  best  when  resisting  an  infantry  charge  or 
when  standing  up  to  its  work  against  a  heavy  and  destructive  fire  of  in 
fantry  under  cover  at  close  range.  Such  situations  stir  the  blood  of  the 
most  sluggish  Cannoneer,  nerve  him  to  almost  incredible  deeds  and  make 
him  oblivious  of  his  peril.  There  is  nothing  that  can  stir  the  latent  hero 
ism  of  a  Cannoneer  like  the  sight  of  the  waist-belts  of  the  enemy's  infantry 
coming  on  !  Then  the  only  thing  he  has  to  do  is  to  chuck  in  the  canister 
as  fast  as  he  can  and  get  it  out  again  as  quick  as  he  can  without  blowing 
No.  1  from  the  muzzle. 

But  you  get  none  of  the  benefit  of  this  excitement  when  fighting  bat 
teries  at  fair  range  in  an  artillery  duel  pure  and  simple.  If  they  are  in 
plain  sight  it  is  better.  But  if  they  are  screened  from  you  so  that  you 
cannot  see  your  foe,  as  was  the  case  with  us  at  Spottsylvania,  whereby  your 
range  and  the  result  of  your  fire  can  be  judged  only  by  its  evident  effect 
on  the  enemy,  every  man  in  the  battery,  from  Captain  to  Cannoneer,  is 
subjected  to  a  great  mental  and  moral  strain,  without  the  compensating 
effects  of  excitement  or  enthusiasm.  On  such  occasions  the  guns  will  be 


182  THE  CANNONEER. 

loaded  carefully,  often  reducing  the  charges  by  spilling  some  of  the  pow 
der  on  the  ground.  If  firing  shell  or  case  there  may  be  a  debate  between 
the  Sergeant  and  the  Gunner  about  the  time  of  the  fuse.  Then  there  may 
be  another  debate  about  the  elevation  of  the  piece.  In  the  meantime  the 
air  above  you  will  be  blue  with  the  mingled  flame  and  smoke  of  the  enemy's 
shells  ;  his  ricochet  shot  will  be  filling  your  eyes  full  of  dirt ;  his  exploding 
case  will  be  killing  or  wounding  your  comrades  in  every  direction.  But 
you  must  stick  to  your  post  in  perfectly  cold  blood,  without  the  slightest 
inspiring  or  exciting  circumstance.  If  you  are  killed  it  will  be  by  a  solid 
shot  taking  your  head  off,  or  tearing  out  your  vitals,  or  cutting  you  in 
two;  if  wounded,  it  will  be  by  jagged  pieces  of  iron  shell  tearing  your 
poor  body  in  agonizing  gashes,  or  by  the  equally  horrible  holes  made  by 
the  flying  ounce  balls  with  which  the  case  shot  are  filled !  On  the  whole, 
it  is  always  easier  for  a  battery  to  face  infantry  at  close  quarters,  with 
all  the  attendant  excitement  and  enthusiasm  of  such  a  fight,  than  to  stand 
up  under  a  cold-blooded  and  methodical  cannonade  such  as  that  of  Spott- 
sylvauia. 

One  of  the  touching  incidents  of  this  slaughter  at  Spottsylvania  was  the 
death  of  Isaac  Vandicar,  from  the  24th  Michigan.  He  had  been  the  Cap 
tain's  Orderly  for  some  time,  and  as  such  had  taken  care  of  "Old  Tartar," 
who  was  always  esteemed  one  of  the  most  important  and  meritorious 
"  comrades  "  in  the  Battery.  Ike  was  serving  as  Xo.  5  on  one  of  the  guns 
in  the  left  section,  and  an  exploding  case  shot  literally  made  a  seive  of 
him  —  no  less  than  four  of  the  missiles  hitting  the  poor  boy.  He  was 
struck  in  the  face,  breast,  abdomen  and  groin  by  shot,  all  from  the  same 
case.  Some  of  the  boys  started  to  carry  him  away  in  a  blanket,  when  he 
said,  "I  want  to  see  the  Old  Man !  " 

They  called  Stewart,  who  came  to  him  and  said,  "Van,  my  poor  boy, 
what  can  I  do  for  you  ?  " 

"Nothing,  Captain,"  replied  Ike,  with  perfect  composure,  "I  know 
I  must  die,  but  I  wanted  to  say  good-by  to  you,  and  I  want  you  to  see  that 
'Old  Tartar '  has  good  care  after  I  am  gone  ! " 

Stewart  wrung  Ike's  dying  hand,  turned  away  from  him  and  when  he 
came  into  our  section,  though  it  was  in  the  very  hottest  of  the  fight,  he 
was  visibly  affected. 

This  "first  night  of  Spottsylvania  "  was  a  gloomy  one.  Every  man 
knew  that  the  Fifth  Corps  had  suffered  a  sanguinary  repulse  of  a  desperate 
assault,  or  series  of  assaults,  by  Robinson's,  Griffin's  and  Crawford's  Divis 
ions  in  succession,  and  that  the  Artillery  Brigade — particularly  Stewart's, 
Walcott's,  Mink's  and  Phillips's  Batteries  —  had  lost  severely.  Our  own 
loss  included  three  of  our  best  and  brightest  boys,  all  killed  in  their  tracks — 
Billy  Irving,  Anse  Jillson  and  Ike  Vandicar — and  Lieut.  Goodman  mortally 
wounded.  All  these  boys  were  particular  favorites  with  the  Captain,  and 
Vandicar  had  been  his  personal  Orderly  for  a  long  time.  Stewart  attempted 
to  make  a  little  speech  to  the  Battery  that  night  at  roll  call,  which  was  his 
invariable  custom  after  a  battle,  complimenting  his  boys  on  their  conduct 


A  SAD  NIGHT.  183 

and  expressing  his  appreciation  of  the  way  they  had  stood  by  him.  His 
voice  was  husky  with  emotion,  and  when  he  came  to  speak  of  the  soldierly 
virtues  of  those  who  had  fallen  he  choked  up  entirely  and  had  to  quit.  It 
was  a  very  sad  occasion. 

Thomas  Goodman  was  the  only  volunteer  officer  who  ever  served  with 
the  Battery.  He  had  been  an  old  Regular  before  the  war ;  then  came  out 
in  1861  as  a  Sergeant  in  the  6th  Jersey  ;  was  promoted  to  a  Lieutenantcy, 
and,  having  been  in  the  old  artillery,  was  transferred  to  one  of  the  Jersey 
batteries,  where  he  served  until  his  assignment  to  us.  He  was  a  trim-built 
man,  just  about  my  size  at  that  time,  though  he  was  not  quite  as  stocky  in 
build  as  I  was,  and  probably  weighed  not  over  150.  He  was  full  of  energy 
and  intensely  proud  of  his  assignment  to  our  old  Battery.  Capt.  Stewart, 
in  a  letter  to  me,  says  :  "Among  officers,  Goodman  was  inclined  to  be  reti 
cent,  and  during  the  time  he  was  with  us  I  never  succeeded  in  learning 
much  about  his  history.  He  considered  his  assignment  to  our  Battery  as  a 
promotion,  and  it  seemed  very  sad  to  have  him  cut  oif  so  soon.  Had  he 
been  spared  he  would  have  made  a  brilliant  career  with  us. ' ' 

But  Goodman  was  not  reticent  in  dealing  with  the  men ;  on  the  con 
trary,  his  chief  delight  was  to  be  among  them  and  to  converse  with  them. 
Short  as  was  his  stay  with  us,  he  had  made  a  close  personal  acquaintance 
with  every  man  in  his  section,  learning  all  about  where  he  was  from,  taking 
an  interest  in  his  affairs,  inquiring  when  he  had  heard  from  home,  and  if 
the  folks  were  well,  and  all  such  little  attentions  which  win  the  aifections 
of  soldiers  for  an  officer.  All  of  us  took  a  great  interest  in  his  condition 
that  night,  and  after  the  Battery's  position  was  established  on  Griffin's  line 
and  the  righting  appeared  to  be  over  for  the  day,  Stewart  left  the  Battery 
temporarily  under  command  of  McBride  and  rode  back  to  the  field  hospital, 
taking  Thorpe  with  him,  I  believe,  to  see  how  poor  Goodman  was  getting 
along.  He  came  back  about  roll-call  time  much  encouraged,  and  told  us 
that  while  the  contusion  in  his  head  was  more  severe  than  wras  at  first  sup 
posed,  it  was  not  necessarily  dangerous,  and  he  would  doubtless  recover  and 
rejoin  us  soon  ;  but  he  died  in  a  few  days.  The  shock,  it  was  said,  ruptured 
a  blood  vessel  in  the  brain  and  the  internal  hemorrhage  killed  him.  In 
character,  Goodman  was  a  very  thorough  and  precise  soldier,  and  always 
wanted  every  duty  done  promptly  and  fully.  But  his  manner  was  very 
pleasant  and  winning,  and  in  giving  orders  he  always  spoke  in  an  ordinary 
tone  of  voice,  and  when  oif  duty  was  sociable  and  companionable.  I  believe 
he  was  taking  especial  pains  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  men,  and  he  was 
certainly  succeeding.  In  appearance  he  was  of  a  rather  florid  complexion, 
having  deep  blue  eyes  and  light  brown  hair  and  mustache.  As  to  his  be 
havior,  it  is  not  necessary  to  describe  the  courage  of  a  man  who  was  killed 
in  action  on  the  front  line  with  his  face  to  the  enemy. 

During  the  9th  of  May  there  was  considerable  activity  on  our  side  but 
no  decided  attack.  The  day  was  spent  in  manuvering  and  intrenching 
somewhat,  and  also  in  reconnoitering  the  enemy's  position.  The  principal 
event  of  the  day  was  the  death  of  Gen.  John  Sedgwick,  killed  by  a  Con- 


184 


THE  CANNONEER. 


federate  sharpshooter  while  in  the  position  of  Mink's  Battery,  which  was  a 
few  rods  from  the  position  occupied  by  Stewart's  during  the  heavy  cannonade 
of  the  day  before.  Comrade  H.  E.  Schell,  of  Mink's  Battery,  furnishes  the 
following  account  of  the  death  of  that  noble  old  soldier  and  General : 

The  killing  of  Gen.  Sedgwick  occured  while  standing  between  the  guns  of 
a  section  of  Battery  H,  1st  New  York  Artillery,  nearly  opposite  to  the  Bloody 
Angle  at  Spottsylvania.  Gen.  Sedgwick  had  been  observing  the  enemy's  lines 
through  his  field-glass,  when  a  New  Hampshire  regiment  began  to  file  past  our 
right  and  rear  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  a  regiment  who  had  been  all  night 
in  the  breastworks  to  our  right.  The  enemy's  sharpshooters  had  our  range  to 
a  dot,  and  were  sending  their  leaden  compliments  over  at  intervals  of  two  or 
three  moments  between  each  shot.  Several  men  and  horses  had  been  hit  that 
morning  in  the  battery.  Brig.-Gen.  Morris,  I  think  a  son  of  the  Poet  Morris, 
had  been  wounded  standing 
almost  in  the  same  spot,  and 
onl  j*  a  few  moments  before  the 
gallant  Sedgwick  received  the 
fatal  shot  that  lost  to  our  coun 
try  one  of  her  most  distin 
guished  Generals.  As  the  New 
Hampshire  regiment  was  filing 
past  some  of  the  men  were  pa3r- 
ing  their  compliments  to  the 
angry  whiz  of  the  bullets  as 
they  sped  uncomfortably  near; 
and  I  never  saw  a  man  so  brave 
that  he  would  not.  Among  the 
men  of  the  regiment  as  it  had 
nearly  passed  us  was  a  Sergeant 
who  seemed  a  little  shaky  and 
appeared  never  to  have  been 
under  fire  before.  As  a  ball 
sang  past  uncomfortably  near 
him,  he  got  down  to  the  bosom 
of  Mother  Earth  as  nearly  as 
possible,  without  actually 
crawling  on  his  hands  and 
knees.  His  conduct  seemed 
to  make  the  General  very  an-  DEATH  OF  GEN.  SEDGWICK. 

gr3~,  and  he  stepped  rapidl3"  up  behind  the  Sergeant  and  touched  him  with  his 
boot,  remarking,  at  the  same  time,  "  What  are  you  dodging  at ;  they  can't  hit 
an  elephant  at  that  distance."  The  words  were  scarcely  uttered  when  the  fatal 
bullet  hit  him  near  the  left  eye ;  he  staggered  backward  and  was  caught  in 
the  arms  of  Gen.  Martin  McMahon  of  his  staff,  and  in  a  few  moments  was  borne 
to  the  rear  upon  a  stretcher.  Soon  after  this  episode  Battery  H  was  relieved 
by  a  batter3r  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  and  we  took  our  position  again  in  the  line  of 
the  Fifth  Corps,  about  300  yards  to  the  right  at  an  angle  in  the  works. 

The  Sixth  Corps  troops  always  nattered  themselves  that  the  death  of 
"Uncle  John,"  as  they  called  him,  did  not  go  unavenged.  Their  story, 
as  told  in  a  letter  to  the  author  by  Comrade  D.  R.  Sanborn,  of  the  6th  Ver 
mont,  one  of  the  regiments  of  the  immortal  old  Vermont  Brigade,  is  as 
follows : 

Immediatel5*  after  the  death  of  Sedgwick  a  detail  was  ordered  from  the 
Vermont  Brigade,  of  the  Second  Division,  Sixth  Corps,  then  in  reserve,  to  go 
to  the  front  to  act  as  sharpshooters.  Serg't  Sanf ord  G.  Grey  and  the  writer, 


AVENGING  "UNCLE  JOHN."  185 

members  of  the  6th  Vermont,  were  of  this  detail,  and  under  the  command  of 
a  Lieutenant  we  marched  out  to  the  front  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  bat 
tery  where  Sedgwick  fell.  It  was  then  that  we  first  heard  of  his  death.  His 
lifeless  body  was  being  placed  in  an  ambulance  that  had  been  ordered  up  from 
the  rear.  Union  and  Confederate  dead  were  thickly  scattered  all  around,  tell 
ing-  us  of  the  hot  work  our  men  had  had  in  gaining1  the  position  we  then  held  ; 
but  our  thoughts  were  not  of  what  had  passed,  but  intent  upon  avenging  the 
death  of  Uncle  John.  Reaching  our  position,  and  running  our  rifles  through 
an  aperture  in  our  breastwork  of  rails,  we  patiently  waited.  But  a  moment 
passed,  when  suddenly  I  saw,  as  I  supposed,  our  man  of  the  red  shirt  expose 
himself  on  our  right.  I  whispered,  "  There  he  is,  Grey,"  and  was  about  to  fire, 
when  Grey  placed  his  hand  on  my  arm  and  whispered,  "  Don't  fire ;  don't  you 
see  he  has  a  red  cloth  upon  a  stick,  with  his  hat  placed  upon  the  top?  He  is 
waiting  for  our  men  in  his  front  to  expose  themselves.  Let  me  have  a  shot  at 
that  fellow ;  I  can  beat  you  shooting ;  we  shall  see  him  in  a  moment  at  the 
other  end  of  his  pit.  There  he  is  now  I "  But  a  second  elapsed  ;  the  sharp  re 
port  of  Grey's  rifle  rang  out  upon  the  morning  breeze,  and  as  I  watched  the 
shot  it  seemed  that  the  victim  jumped  six  feet  in  the  air,  falling  back  into  his 
pit.  We  knew  that  he  was  at  least  badly  wounded,  for  there  was  no  more 
shooting  from  that  quarter  during  the  day ;  but  his  red  flag  hung  there  in  the 
sun  all  that  hot  May  day,  and  many  a  bullet  sped  its  way  in  that  direction,  our 
men  on  the  right  being  deceived  by  it,  as  we  had  been  before  we  had  gained 
our  near  position. 

Just  before  sunset  our  lines  were  advanced  and  the  enemy's  skirmishers 
driven  back  nearer  the  line  of  battle.  That  evening  Grey  and  I  visited  the  pit 
of  the  big  fellow  with  the  red  shirt.  We  found  him  in  a  half -sitting  posture 
at  the  end  of  the  pit  dead.  His  right  hand  still  firmly  grasped  his  rifle,  which 
was  of  the  old  style  muzzle-loading  patch-and-ball  pattern.  I  judged  him  to 
be  50  years  of  age,  six  feet  two  inches  in  hight,  of  large  frame,  a  heavy  brown 
beard  mixed  with  gray  covering  his  face.  He  had  an  old-fashioned  horn  pow 
der  flask  hung  over  his  shoulder,  and  a  leather  pouch  upon  a  belt  that  sur 
rounded  his  body  was  filled  with  caps  and  bullets.  He  wore  a  faded  uniform, 
gray  pair  of  pants  and  an  old  white  patched  cotton  shirt.  Grey's  shot  had 
struck  him  in  the  right  side,  probably  passing  through  his  heart,  and  it  is  likely 
that  he  died  instantly.  His  undershirt,  old  and  of  red  woolen,  was  stretched 
on  a  piece  of  timber  split  from  a  fence  rail,  with  a  crosspiece,  over  which  was 
stretched  the  shirt.  An  old  coonskin  cap  surmounted  the  shirt.  I  have  always 
thought  that  this  man  killed  Gen.  Sedgwick,  and  that  his  own  life,  forfeited 
within  the  hour,  was  all  the  revenge  we  could  get. 

During  May  9  the  Fifth  Corps  occupied  an  irregular  curved  line,  with 
its  left  near  the  road  to  Spottsylvauia  Courthouse,  at  the  salient  where 
Geu.  Sedgwick  fell,  and  its  right  in  the  woods  to  the  rear  of  the  Pritchard 
House.  At  daylight  Mink's  Battery  (H)  and  Eichardson's  (D)  1st  New 
York  were  sent  to  the  front  and  posted  under  Gen.  Griffin's  orders  a  short 
distance  to  the  right  of  where  Stewart's  Battery  was  the  day  before.  An 
orchard  with  ruins  of  a  house  were  immediately  in  front  of  them,  and  a 
heavy  wooded  knoll  beyond  at  a  distance  of  500  yards.  The  fire  of  the 
enemy's  sharpshooters  was  exceedingly  annoying  from  these  points.  At 
6:30  p.  m.  the  enemy  opened  from  a  battery  to  the  left  and  advanced  their 
skirmish  lines,  but  were  driven  back  into  the  woods  and  their  battery 
silenced.  Mink  and  Richardson  were  again  withdrawn  after  dark.  Cooper's 
Battery  occupied  its  position  of  the  afternoon  before,  on  a  knoll  to  the 
right  of  the  Courthouse  Road  and  commanding  the  valley  toward  the 
Pritchard  House.  Rittenhouse's  Battery  was  also  placed  on  the  same 


186  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

knoll  to  the  right  of  Cooper's,  and  in  the  afternoon  Phillips's  Battery  was 
posted  about  400  yards  in  their  rear  on  commanding  ground.  The  two 
first  named  were  engaged  at  different  times  during  the  day  against  bat 
teries  of  the  enemy  which  opened  on  the  right  of  our  line.  Phillips,  though 
not  engaged,  suffered  somewhat  from  the  random  fire  of  a  battery  beyond 
the  woods  on  his  left  flank.  The  other  batteries  remained  in  reserve  near 
the  Alsop  House  until  late  in  the  afternoon,  when  Walcott  relieved  Cooper's 
Battery,  and  the  latter  moved  off  to  the  right,  about  half  a  mile  and  fired 
several  rounds  at  the  enemy  across  the  Po.  Breck's  Battery  had  been  sent 
also  to  the  same  position  in  the  afternoon,  and  was  engaged  under  the  fire 
of  the  enemy's  sharpshooters.  Both  these  batteries  were  withdrawn  after 
dark  and  camped  near  the  Alsop  House.  Early  May  10  Mink  and  Rich 
ardson  resumed  their  position  of  the  previous  day,  slightly  advanced  and 
well  protected  by  works  thrown  up  during  the  night.  The  latter  battery 
had  but  three  guns  in  position,  having  badly  cracked  the  trail  of  one  of 
their  pieces  the  day  before.  Both  batteries  fired  a  good  part  of  the  day 
under  Gen.  Griffin's  orders  at  the  enemy's  skirmish  line  and  to  encourage 
our  own  infantry.  The  enemy  also  occasionally  opened  from  a  battery  on 
their  front,  but  was  soon  silenced.  Rittenhouse's  and  Breck's  Batteries 
were  posted  during  the  morning  on  the  right  of  the  corps  to  fire  on  the 
enemy's  line  across  the  Po,  which  was  being  attacked  by  the  Second  Corps. 
They  were  engaged  a  good  part  of  the  day,  but  when  the  corps  fell  back 
were  much  exposed  and  were  withdrawn  before  night.  At  the  time  the 
Second  Corps  fell  back  Cooper's  and  Walcott's  Batteries  were  ordered  to 
report  to  Col.  Tidball,  Chief  of  the  Second  Corps  artillery.  They  reported 
back  the  next  morning,  but  were  not  used.  Phillips's  Battery  remained 
in  its  position  of  the  previous  day  and  Stewart's  was  posted  to  its  right 
and  rear,  close  to  the  Alsop  House. 

During  the  10th  of  May  it  was  quiet  on  our  part  of  the  line  up  to  noon 
or  after,  but  we  heard  heavy  firing  all  the  morning  from  the  direction  of 
the  Sixth  Corps,  which  was  on  our  left.  About  3  o'clock  one  section  was 
sent  through  the  brush  on  our  left  of  the  Brock  Road,  and  after  a  difficult 
haul  got  out  into  the  edge  of  the  east  clearing  and  halted  a  short  distance 
from  where  Gen.  Sedgwick  had  been  killed  the  day  before. 

Sections  from  two  other  Fifth  Corps  batteries  followed,  but  only  one 
came  through  the  brush — a  section  of  Walcott's.  To  our  left  was  a  pine 
grove,  more  open  than  any  woods  we  had  yet  seen  in  these  parts,  and  we 
observed  that  a  heavy  line  of  battle  of  the  Sixth  Corps  infantry  was  massed 
in  this  grove,  lying  down.  There  was  a  hollow  in  the  front  of  us,  and  in 
this  were  two  batteries  of  the  Sixth  Corps  —  McKnight's  (M,  5th  Regu 
lars,  )  and  Kimball's  (4th  Maine).  In  front  of  these  there  was  rising  ground 
just  high  enough  to  shut  out  the  Rebel  works  in  our  immediate  front,  but 
we  could  plainly  see  their  heavy  works  on  the  hill  beyond,  which  was  the 
famous  "Angle."  In  course  of  about  half  an  hour  these  two  Sixth  Corps 
batteries  were  thrown  forward  to  the  top  of  the  rising  ground  in  our  front, 
where  they  unlimbered  and  opened  furiously.  The  sound  of  the  enemy's 


A  GALLANT  BOY. 


187 


reply  showed  that  they  were  close  up  to  his  works,  and  his  shot  and  even, 
bullets  which  passed  over  them  reached  us.  So  we  pulled  down  a  little  to 
the  left  and  into  the  hollow,  where  we  found  shelter  from  their  dropping 
fire.  We  took  no  part  in  this  action,  being  simply  held  there  in  reserve. 
Suddenly  the  batteries  in  front  of  us  ceased  firing,  and  then  the  infantry 
that  was  in  the  pine  woods  to  our  left  broke  cover  and  in  magnificent  style 
swept  past  our  flank  out  into  the  open  ground,  over  the  little  rise,  thence 
down  upon  the  Rebel  intrenchments  and  out 
of  sight  where  we  were.  Their  right  marker 
passed  very  close  to  us,  and  we  saw  the  colors 
of  the  5th  Maine  and  121st  Xew  York  regi 
ments.  We  now  moved  quickly  by  our  right 
flank  up  the  little  hollow,  and  soon  emerged 
from  it  onto  the  high  ground  and  halted  at 
the  end  of  a  little  wood  road  which  there 
came  through  the  brush  from  the  Brock  Road. 
Here  we  could  see  the  whole  of  the  west  face 
of  the  enemy's  works,  and  we  instantly  dis 
covered  that  our  infantry  had  gotten  into 
them  and  were  advancing  rapidly  through 
the  open  ground  toward  Spottsylvania  Court 
house.  But  they  encountered  desperate  resist 
ance,  and  as  it  was  now  almost  dark,  and  no 
one  appeared  to  be  supporting  or  co-operating 
with  them  in  the  assault,  they  fell  back,  and 
before  it  was  quite  dark  resumed  their  position 
in  the  pine  grove.  This  is  usually  called  the 
charge  of  Upton's  Brigade,  but  as  a  matter  of 
fact  it  was  a  picked  column  from  the  Sixth 
Corps,  and  moved  on  the  enemy's  works  in 
three  lines,  of  which  the  5th  Maine,  121st 
New  York  and  96th  and  119th  Pennsylvania 
formed  the  first  line  ;  the  77th  and  43d  New- 
York,  5th  Wisconsin,  6th  Maine  and  49th 
Pennsylvania  the  second,  and  the  2d,  3d,  5th 
and  6th  Vermont  (the  Old  Vermont  Brigade) 
the  third  line.  There  was  no  finer  operation 
in  the  shape  of  a  direct  assault  on  strong 
works  during  the  whole  struggle,  but,  like 
many  other  actions  of  the  kind,  it  was  iso 
lated,  and,  though  in  itself  successful,  its  suc 
cess  was  rendered  useless  by  lack  of  concerted 
support.  Somebody  was  to  blame  for  such 
a  sacrifice  of  a  thousand  or  so  of  the  best  troops  in  the  army,  and  it  certainly 
was  not  Gen.  Upton.  He  did  his  part  and  his  men  did  theirs.  Who  it  was 
that  failed  is  a  question  that  no  one  has  endeavored  to  answer.  One  of  the 


CLINTON  BECKWITH. 
[From  a  war-time  tintype.] 


188  THE  CANNONEER. 

notable  incidents  of  this  charge  was  the  behavior  of  young  Clinton  Beck- 
with,  of  the  121st  New  York,  a  neighbor  and  friend  of  mine  at  home.  He 
was  a  sturdy  boy,  not  more  than  18  years  old,  and  hardly  as  tall  as  his 
musket.  When  the  assaulting  column  began  to  fall  back  after  almost 
reaching  Lee's  headquarters,  Clint,  heard  some  one  calling  for  assistance, 
and,  answering  the  appeal,  he  found  a  Captain  —  it  was  either  Clarke  or 
Wight,  of  the  5th  Maine — badly  wounded  and  unable  to  move.  So  Clint, 
shouldered  the  Captain  like  a  bag  of  grain,  and,  though  the  Captain  was 
much  larger  than  he  was,  Clint,  brought  him  safely  back  to  our  lines  ! 

Returning  to  the  Fifth  Corps  :  During  May  11  Mink  and  Richardson 
occupied  substantially  their  posts  of  the  day  before,  firing  case  and  shell  at 
intervals  into  the  enemy's  works.  Cooper  remained  in  the  little  redoubt 
he  had  built,  commanding  the  valley  before  mentioned.  Breck's,  Phillips's 
and  ours  continued  in  position  as  before  around  the  Alsop  House,  with 
Rittenhouse  and  Walcott  in  reserve,  until  the  afternoon,  when  Stewart's 
Battery  was  moved  to  the  left  and  front  of  Cooper,  and  Walcott  was  ordered 
to  report  to  Brig. -Gen.  Ayres,  now  in  command  of  the  Second  Division. 
None  of  these  batteries  were  engaged  during  the  day.  May  12  Phillips's 
and  Breck's  Batteries  took  position  to  the  left  of  the  road  which  crosses 
the  Po  at  Corbitt's  Bridge.  During  the  forenoon  they  shelled  the  woods 
across  the  river  and  replied  to  a  few  guns  which  opened  on  our  skirmish 
lines,  but  they  were  either  so  far  off  or  so  much  concealed  by  the  woods 
that  the  effect  of  their  fire  could  not  be  seen.  In  the  afternoon  they  had 
a  brisk  engagement  for  about  25  minutes  with  a  Rebel  battery  in  their 
front  at  1 ,200  yards  and  silenced  it.  The  fire  of  the  enemy  was  very  accu 
rate,  wounding  several  of  the  men  and  exploding  one  of  Capt.  Phillips's 
limbers.  Mink's  and  Richardson's  Batteries  shelled  the  woods  opposite 
them  at  the  time  of  the  attack  made  by  the  Second  Corps  and  at  intervals 
during  the  day.  Walcott's  Battery  and  Stewart's,  or  a  section  from  each, 
were  also  engaged  near  the  Angle  during  the  assaults  by  the  Sixth  Corps. 
The  other  batteries  of  the  Fifth  Corps  remained  in  reserve. 

In  the  afternoon  of  May  11  the  Second  Corps  began  to  moye  toward 
the  left  of  the  army.  As  they  at  first  moved  off  by  the  Chancellorsville 
Road,  which  was  one  of  the  routes  to  the  rear,  some  of  our  new  men  sur 
mised  that  it  was  the  beginning  of  the  retreat  of  the  army,  and  bets  were 
offered  that  we  would  be  across  the  Rappahannock  in  two  days.  But  the 
veterans  knew  that  was  not  Grant's  style,  and  they  insisted  that  the  Sec 
ond  Corps  was  being  taken  around  to  attack  some  other  part  of  the  enemy's 
line.  The  Sixth  Corps  maintained  its  position  of  the  day  before,  connect 
ing  with  our  left  on  the  edge  of  the  east  clearing  and  extending  to  the  apex 
'  of  the  great  Angle.  The  night  of  the  llth  was  dark  and  cloudy,  with  some 
rain  about  midnight,  turning  to  mist  or  heavy  fog  before  daylight.  Be 
tween  3  and  4  a.  m.  one  section  of  ours,  with  one  from*  the  volunteers — 
Walcott's — were  moved  as  noiselessly  as  possible  down  the  east  road  and 
put  in  position  there  in  our  main  trenches.  In  order  to  make  as  little 
noise  as  possible,  we  unlinibered  some  distance  back  and  ran  the  guns  into 


A  FATEFUL  MORNING.  189» 

• 

position  by  hand,  leaving  the  caissons,  limber-chests  and  teams  in  the  rear 
under  cover  of  the  brush  on  the  east  side  of  the  road.  The  infantry  that 
was  in  those  works  —  Rice's  Brigade — told  us  that  the  Johnnies  had  rifle 
pits  in  line  with  the  Spindler  House,  not  more  than  500  or  600  feet  away, 
and  that  their  main  line,  with  artillery  in  it,  was  just  beyond  the  forks  of 
the  Brock  and  old  Courthouse  Roads,  about  300  yards  distant.  These  two 
sections  were  commanded  temporarily  by  Lieut.  De  Motte,  of  Richardson's 
Battery.  Everybody  was  satisfied  that  a  general  assault  was  intended  at 
daybreak,  and  we  knew  that  our  contest  with  the  Rebel  artillery  in  our 
front  would  almost  be  ' '  muzzle  to  muzzle, ' '  if  they  remained  where  they 
had  been  the  day  before. 

Meantime  the  other  sections  remained  back  at  Alsop's  in  reserve.  All 
this  time  other  infantry  of  the  Fifth  Corps  had  been  filing  in  from  both 
flanks  and  massing  in  the  darkness  and  fog  close  behind  us.  Everything 
on  our  side  was  done  almost  breathlessly,  but  we  had  made  enough  noise 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  enemy,  and  they  were  all  astir.  We  could 
distinctly  hear  their  officers  call  out  from  their  main  works  to  the  men  in 
their  advanced  pits,  and  could  hear  the  latter  respond,  their  voices  sound 
ing  almost  ghost -like  through  the  fog.  The  Lieutenant  explained  the  "lay 
of  the  ground,"  and  said  to  us,  "Now,  boys,  this  is  the  first  time  you  have 
ever  fought  under  cover.  The  range  is  very  close.  You  ought  to  be  able 
to  knock  a  man's  head  off  every  time.  Keep  cool.  Don't  try  to  work 
your  guns  too  fast.  Try  to  put  your  shot  right  under  the  head  logs  every 
time.  If  they  have  embrasures,  aim  at  them.  If  they  fire  over  the  tops 
of  their  parapets,  aim  at  their  muzzles.  And  now  see  what  you  can  do." 

By  this  time  it  would  have  been  daybreak  but  for  the  fog,  which  was 
still  dense.  Just  at  this  moment  I  heard  distinctly  a  Rebel  in  a  rifle  pit 
right  in  our  front,  and  not  more  than  150  yards  distant,  call  out,  ' '  Look 
sharp  there  to  the  left"  (their  left).  "The  Yanks  are  up  to  something 
over  there — look  sharp  !  "  Almost  before  he  finished  the  muffled  sound 
of  cheers  came  through  the  fog  from  the  east,  apparently  quite  distant,  and 
then  came  crash  on  crash  of  heavy  volleys.  For  a  few  minutes  there  was 
a  medley  of  cheers,  yells  and  volleys  over  on  our  extreme  left,  and  the 
enemy  in  our  own  front  and  in  the  salients  of  the  great  Angle  to  the  imme 
diate  left  of  us  opened  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry  at  random  through  the 
fog.  Our  infantry  replied  in  the  same  way.  The  effect  was  very  grand, 
the  rapid  volleys  lighting  up  the  gray  fog  fitfully,  like  distant  lightning 
flashing  through  the  clouds.  I  never  saw  anything  just  like  it  before  or 
since.  But  the  sounds  of  the  battle  away  on  our  left  seemed  to  come 
nearer,  indicating  that  our  troops  had  taken  their  works  and  were  pushing 
for  Spottsylvania  Courthouse.  The  fog  now  began  to  lift  rapidly,  and  sooq 
as  we  could  see  the  outlines  of  the  enemy's  works  we  opened  with  our  two 
sections  on  the  Brock  Road,  while  the  other  Fifth  Corps  batteries,  which 
had  gone  in  position,  followed  suit  further  to  our  right.  The  enemy  re 
plied,  but  feebly.  His  guns  turned  out  to  be  in  the  retrenched  works  at 
the  base  of  the  Angle,  instead  of  being  in  the  Brock  Road  intrenchments 


190  THE  CAXXQXEEK. 

in  our  immediate  front,  as  we  had  expected.  They  had  apparently  been 
withdrawn  during  the  night,  as  the  infantry  assured  us  that  they  had 
counted  14  guns  in  the  redoubts  behind  the  Spindler  House  the  evening 
before.  But  our  artillery  was  going  along  the  whole  line,  from  our  right 
clear  around  to  the  east  face  of  the  Angle,  where  Hancock  was  assaulting, 
and  the  enemy  appeared  to  concentrate  his  guns  mainly  on  the  infantry, 
attacking  the  two  faces  of  that  work,  and  paid  but  little  attention  to  us. 
While  in  this  position,  as  soon  as  it  got  fairly  light,  an  episode  occurred, 
which  Comrade  Grove  Button,  a  Sergeant  of  Company  D,  147th  New  York, 
tells  so  graphically  that  we  will  let  him  describe  it.  Serg't  Button  says : 

Speaking  of  the  12th  of  May,  when  the  artillery  was  put  into  the  breast 
works  before  daylight,  a  section  of  Battery  B  came  into  the  works  just  on  the 
right  of  my  company.  They  were  so  near  that  we  could  hear  the  Lieutenant 
instructing  the  Gunners.  As  soon  as  it  was  light  enough  to  see  the  enemy 
opened  from  his  rifle  pits,  while  the  Battery  began  to  fire  at  their  main  works. 
Finally,  after  a  few  rounds,  the  sharpshooting  from  the  advanced  rifle  pits 
became  annoying,  and  the  Lieutenant  ordered  his  Gunners  to  reduce  their 
charges  and  see  if  they  could  drop  a  few  case  shot  or  shell  into  those  pits.  So 
they  spilled  some  of  the  powder  on  the  ground  and  cut  their  fuses  to  the  short 
est  time.  The  very  first  shell,  from  the  left  gun  of  the  section,  exploded  right 
in  the  embankment  of  a  pit,  and  the  right  gun  followed  suit,  equally  accurate 
in  the  next  pit.  If  you  ever  saw  men  "dig  out  and  skedaddle,"  it  was  the 
Johnnies ;  not  only  in  those  two  pits,  but  from  several  more  to  the  right  and 
left  of  them.  That  whole  line  of  advanced  pits-was  silent  for  the  rest  of  the 
day. 

The  young  Lieutenant  who  had  charge  of  the  two  sections  was  Charles 
Be  Motte.  He  belonged  to  Battery  B,  1st  New  York,  while  the  two  sections 
he  commanded  belonged  one  to  our  Battery  and  the  other  to  the  3d  Mas- 
.  sachusetts  Battery.  But  in  that  campaign  such  temporary  assignments  of 
junior  officers  from  one  battery  to  another  took  place  every  day.  Lieut. 
Be  Motte  was  a  most  excellent  young  officer,  and  was  very  genial  and  com 
rade-like  while  with  us.  Sad  to  say  he  was  killed  just  three  weeks  from 
that 'day  at  Bethesda  Church. 

About  9  o'clock  Cutler's  Bivision  (formerly  Wadsworth's)  was  brought 
forward,  extending  some  distance  along  our  works,  with  its  left  center 
about  at  our  position,  and  formed  in  two  lines  of  battle.  They  swept  over 
our  works  with  loud  cheers,  and  went  straight  for  the  enemy's  main  line. 
They  swayed  off  to  the  left  somewhat,  because  the  rebel  works  were 
weaker  there  than  at  the  forks  of  the  road.  They  went  clear  up  to  the 
enemy's  main  works  in  several  places,  but  owing  to  the  slashing  and  abatis 
they  could  not  make  a  uniform  attack  at  all  points.  On  the  east  side  of 
the  Brock  Road  the  Johnnies  left  their  first  line  and  sought  refuge  in  their 
second,  which  was  part  of  the  retrenchment  at  the  base  of  the  Angle.  At 
this,  our  infantry  having  taken  possession  of  the  first  line  of  redoubts  near 
the  Spindler  House,  and  our  artillery  being  useless  where  we  were,  Lieut. 
Be  Motte  suggested  that  we  should  get  out  of  our  own  works,  rush  the 
guns  across  the  open  ground  in  front  and  run  them  up  close  against  the 
Rebel  works,  where  we  could  get  a  fine  enfilade  on  part  of  their  retrenched 
iline  in  reverse.  But  before  this  could  be  done  our  infantry  began  to  recoil 


THE  YEEMONTERS  "GET  IN."  191 

on  our  right,  and  then  the  whole  line  fell  back  to  our  trenches  again. 
Almost  immediately  Cutler's  Division  began  to  file  out  of  the  works 
by  the  left  flank,  and  Gen.  Warren  came  into  the  trenches  on  foot.  He 
gave  some  quick  orders  in  a  low  tone  and  we  instantly  began,  with  the 
help  of  a  lot  of  infantrymen,  to  drag  the  two  sections  out  of  the  works. 
Getting  back  to  the  teams  we  limbered  up  and  followed  Cutler,  thrashing 
through  the  brush  at  the  head  of  the  ravine  until  we  got  into  the  wood 
road  we  had  used  on  the  night  of  the  10th,  and  so  out  into  the  edge  of  the 
open  ground  over  which  Upton's  Brigade  had  charged  at  that  time. 

Here  we  again  unlhnbered,  leaving  our  horses  and  drivers  in  the  brush 
as  before,  and  with  the  help  of  the  infantry  ran  the  guns  by  hand  right  up 
to  the  edge  of  the  slashing.  From  this  point  we  could  enfilade  the  north 
west  face  of  the  Angle  in  one  direction  and  part  of  their  retrenched  work  in 
the  other.  We  took  the  Angle  and  Walcott's  section  the  retrenchment. 
We  were  now  very  close  to  their  main  line,  but  being  obscured  by  the 
smoke,  which  settled  toward  us,  and  partly  screened  by  the  slashing,  they 
did  not  detect  us  till  we  opened.  Several  sections  of  the  Sixth  Corps  bat 
teries  were  in  similar  position  on  our  left  —  in  all  perhaps  10  guns.  The 
whole  Angle  (west  face,  apex  and  east  face)  was  now  enveloped  in  flame 
and  smoke,  and  the  sounds  of  assault  came  from  every  point.  We  had  just 
got  the  range  and  were  beginning  to  search  their  traverses  with  case  shot 
beautifully  when  an  Aid  of  Gen.  Wright's  came  tearing  down  to  us  with 
orders  to  stop  enfilading  the  face  of  the  Angle.  "  You  will  kill  our  own 
men  !  "  he  yelled.  "The  Verrnonters  have  got  in  !  "  In  a  few  minutes 
the  enemy's  infantry  nearest  us  began  a  fusillade  which  we  endeavored  to 
suppress,  but  they  were  too  well  covered  for  canister  and  too  close  to  burst 
case  effectively.  We  began  to  tear  out  the  slashing  and  heap  it  up  in  front 
of  us  for  a  screen,  in  which  we  were  assisted  by  our  supporting  infantry. 
As  *on  as  we  ceased  firing  the  enemy's  infantry  also  ceased,  and  they 
made  no  effort  to  come  out  of  their  works  at  any  point. 

Finding  it  impossible  to  use  artillery  to  an  advantage  in  this  position, 
Gen.  Griffin — who  had  now  come  up  at  the  head  of  his  division,  follow 
ing  Cutler's  to  the  assistance  of  the  Sixth  Corps  at  the  Angle — turned  his 
horse  and  rode  into  the  section  and  said,  "Boys,  you  can't  do  anything 
here. ' '  He  then  ordered  us  to  "  get  the  guns  out  of  that, ' '  and  ' '  go  back 
into  the  woods  where  your  horses  are,  for  the  present."  So  we  ran  the 
guns  back  into  the  woods  by  hand,  and  remained  there  until  about  2  in 
the  morning  of  the  13th,  when  we  limbered  up  and  returned  to  our  old 
place  near  Alsop's.  The  infantry  fighting  on  both  faces  of  the  Angle,  how 
ever,  continued  with  unabated  fury  and  with  varying  fortunes  till  long 
after  dark.  Indeed,  there  was  quite  a  crackling  of  skirmish  fire  along  the 
west  face  in  the  Sixth  Corps  front  and  away  round  our  extreme  left,  where 
the  Ninth  Corps  was,  as  late  as  2  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  we  lim 
bered  up  to  fall  back  to  our  old  position.  It  turned  out  that  the  enemy 
abandoned  the  whole  of  the  Angle  during  the  night  of  the  12th  and  fell 
back  to  the  retrenched  line  across  its  base.  Though  the  two  sections  had 


192  THE  CANNONEER. 

been  engaged  all  day  from  earliest  dawn  until  dark,  some  of  the  time  close 
up  to  the  enemy's  works,  ours  lost  only  three — one  mortally  and  two 
slightly  wounded  —  while  Walcott's  section  lost  four  wounded.  Our  gun 
fired  98  rounds  during  the  day,  and  some  of  the  others  over  a  hundred.  It 
would  not  be  fair  to  claim  for  the  Fifth  Corps  more  than  a  secondary  share 
in  the  great  battle  of  the  12th  of  May  at  Spottsylvania.  By  large  odds  the 
brunt  of  the  combat  and  the  "lion's  share"  alike  of  the  sufferings  and 
the  glory  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Second  and  Sixth  Corps,  and  the  battery 
which  carried  off  the  palm  for  that  day's  work  was  Battery  C,  of  the  5th 
Regulars,  belonging  to  the  Artillery  Brigade  of  the  Second  Corps.  This 
battery  was  run  right  up  to  the  enemy's  works,  literally  charging  with 
Barlow's  infantry  lines,  and  they  fought  their  guns  in  that  position  till  but 
few  men  were  left  standing. 

The  story  of  the  night  march  of  the  Second  Corps  from  the  extreme 
right  round  to  the  left  of  the  army  during  the  night  of  May  11  and  the 
attack  on  the  12th  is  most  brilliantly  told  in  a  letter  to  the  author  from 
Comrade  W.  P.  Haines,  of  Company  F,  12th  Jersey.  He  says : 

On  May  9  we  were  across  the  Po  River,  and  on  the  extreme  right  of  our 
army,  paying  our  respects  to  Longstreet ;  May  10  and  11  back  in  the  center  of 
our  position  at  Laurel  Hill,  giving  our  regrets  to  Early.  Just  before  the  night 
of  the  llth  a  cold  rain  set  in,  and  we  stood  and  shivered  around  our  green  pine- 
wood  fires,  that  whirled  and  smoked  our  eyes  just  as  they  always  did.  The 
wind  was  raw  and  sharp,  our  clothing  wet,  and  we  were  just  about  as  discon 
solate  and  miserable  a  set  of  men  as  ever  were  seen.  But  "  we've  all  been  there 
before  many  a  time,  many  a  time." 

About  9  o'clock  in  the  evening  we  got  orders  to  pack  up  and  march  imme 
diately,  and  at  this  stage  of  the  campaign  we  had  our  housekeeping  outfit  in 
such  a  shape  that  it  didn't  take  long  to  pack  up.  Nobody  knew  where  we  were 
going,  but  a  rumor  was  started  that  we  were  going  back  to  the  rear  to  rest  and 
wash  our  clothes,  and  this  proved  partially  true,  as  it  rained  so  hard  all  night 
that  our  clothes  were  thoroughly  washed  — but  they  needed  wringing  l^dly; 
and  I  think  I  can  safely  say  that  of  all  our  many  night  marches  this  one  took 
the  cake.  A  cold,  cheerless  rain,  falling  in  torrents,  mud  a  la  Virginia,  and 
just  as  dark  as  Egypt ;  every  man  followed  his  file  leader,  not  by  sight  or 
touch,  but  by  hearing  him  growl  and  swear,  as  he  slipped,  splashed  and  tried 
to  pull  his  pontoons  out  of  the  mud. 

But  this  night  came  to  an  end  at  last,  and  about  3  o'clock  in  the  morning 
we  halted  and  formed  line  of  battle  in  columns  of  brigade.  We  waited  a  little 
while  for  signs  of  daylight^nd  then  the  order  was  given  to  fix  bayonets  and 
forward  march.  We  knew  rothing  of  what  was  before  us,  as  this  terrible  night 
march  had  confused  our  ideas  of  direction,  and  we  were  so  tired  and  bedrag 
gled  that  we  were  reckless,  and  as  we  moved  silently  up  through  an  old  field, 
partly  grown  over  with  pine,  the  low  branches  ladened  with  water,  which  the 
man  ahead  very  kindly  held  until  you  got  just  in  the  right  place  to  receive  the 
bath. 

All  at  once  we  struck  their  pickets  and  captured  them  all,  but  few  shots 
being  fired ;  but  in  that  damp  and  heavy  atmosphere  the  report  was  no  louder 
than  the  snapping  of  caps,  but  sufficient  to  tell  us  that  there  was  work  ahead. 
Therefore  we  began  to  prick  up  our  ears  and  wake  up  just  as  our  brigade  com 
mander,  Carroll,  shouted  "double  quick,"  and  we  broke  into  a  run,  and  all  line 
or  formation  was  soon  lost,  as  each  man  seemed  to  try  to  outrun  his  comrade ; 
and  we  -went  up  that  slope  for  about  300  yards  just  like  a  tornado.  In  less  time 
than  it  takes  to  tell  it  we  were  in  front  of  their  breastworks,  tugging  and  pull- 


THE  GRAND  OLD  SECOND  CORPS.  193 

ing  at  the  abatis,  crawling-  over  and  through  it  (for  it  was  certainly  well  built) 
just  as  the  Rebel  heads  began  to  show  along  the  earthworks  and  their  leaden 
compliments  to  reach  us. 

As  the  Second  Division  sprang  upon  the  works  I  glanced  down  to  our  right 
and  saw  the  "  red  clubs "  breaking  over  their  intrenchments  like  a  big  sea 
wave,  and  I  have  never  yet  seen  any  claim  or  dispute  as  to  who  got  there  first, 
for  we  all  had  plenty  of  business  in  our  front,  as  the  Johnnies  rolled  out  of 
their  blankets  and  jumped  for  their  guns;  but  we  were  on  the  earthworks 
above  them,  and  they  were  quick  to  see  that  we  had  the  drop  on  them.  One 
big  fellow  in  particular  came  crawling  out  of  a  shelter-tent,  gun  in  hand,  just 
bringing  it  up  to  his  shoulder  as  one  of  our  boys  covered  him  and  very  gently 
asked,  "Hadn't  you  better  drop  it?"  and  if  his  gun  had  been  red  hot  he 
wouldn't  have  dropped  it  any  quicker.  It  took  us  but  a  very  few  minutes  to 
clear  out  this  line,  as  it  was  a  complete  surprise.  Their  position  and  earth 
works  were  so  very  strong  that  they  were  too  self-confident,  and  their  strength 
proved  their  weakness.  As  we  ran  over  this  first  line  we  passed  through  be 
tween  the  guns  of  a  heavy  battery  of,  I  think,  eight  black  30-pounders.  (Maybe 
it  was  two  batteries  right  close  together,  and  the  dim  light  and  excitement  may 
have  made  the  guns  seem  larger  than  they  really  were.)  We  saw  no  horses 
with  these  guns,  but  the  harness  was  hanging  on  the  wheels  of  the  caissons, 
and  their  flag  was  leaning  against  one  of  the  guns ;  but  we  were  so  eager  to 
get  at  their  second  line  that  I  passed  right  by  it,  and  thus  missed  the  only 
chance  I  ever  had  of  capturing  a  flag.  As  we  pressed  forward  another  battery 
on  the  right  was  giving  us  its  deadly  compliments  of  canister  and  grape,  double 
shotted,  mowing  a  swath  right  through  our  ranks  at  every  discharge,  and  cut 
ting  down  small  trees  and  bushes.  Shells  were  bursting  right  in  our  faces  with 
a  report  quicker  and  sharper  than  a  lightning  stroke,  sending  those  rough, 
jagged,  death-dealing  fragments  in  all  directions.  The  smell  of  powder  and 
brimstone  was  almost  suffocating,  but  on  we  rushed.  At  every  step  a  life  was 
lost— a  man  went  down.  Grand  old  Carroll,  always  in  the  very  thickest  of  the 
fight,  was  carried  back  to  the  hospital,  and,  I  think,  had  one  arm  crippled  for 
life.  Our  own  gallant  Colonel,  Thomas  H.  Davis,  his  tall  form  towering  in  our 
midst,  bareheaded,  his  long  beard  flying  over  his  shoulders  in  the  wind,  with 
sword  in  hand,  while  cheering  and  urging  us  on,  went  down  in  this  terrible 
whirlwind  of  death,  and  gave  up  his  sword  and  life.  The  very  air  was  thick 
and  hot  with  flashing,  smoking,  whirling  missiles  of  death;  the  piteous,  heart 
rending  cries  and  groans  of  the  wounded,  and  cheers  and  yells  of  defiance  from, 
the  living.  But  still  we  pressed  forward,  and  there  were  a  few  brave  spirits 
who  almost  reached  their  next  line.  (This  line  was  the  one  that  ran  across  and 
formed  the  base  of  that  triangle  of  which  the  " Bloody  Angle"  was  the  apex, 
one  side  heavily  traversed,  where  the  hand-to-hand  fighting,  so  graphically 
described  by  G.  Norton  Gallaway,  took  place  later  in  the  day.)  But  we  were 
few  in  numbers,  and,  being  out  of  ammunition,  we  saw  our  efforts  were  hope 
less,  and  therefore  the  order  was  given  to  fall  back  to  the  first  line,  where  we 
replenished  our  empty  cartridge-boxes,  and  found  that  it  was  after  8  o'clock. 

There  had  been  over  three  hours  of  the  very  hardest  kind  of  fighting  done 
before  breakfast,  and  in  what  seemed  to  us  to  be  only  a  few  minutes.  The 
rain  was  falling  fast ;  we  were  wet  clear  through  ;  black  with  smoke  and  pow 
der;  tired  and  hungry  — but  we  had  not  noticed  it  until  it  was  over.  Of  the 
fruits  of  this  charge  — guns,  prisoners,  etc. —I  shall  say  nothing,  as  history 
tells  all  about  these  things.  But  I  remember  well  what  a  thrill  of  joy  it 
gave  us  to  see  our  gallant  brethren  of  the  Sixth  Corps  coming  to  our  help ; 
for,  if  we  were  given  any  choice  in  the  matter,  I  can  truly  say  that  the  Second 
Corps  was  always  glad  to  be  helped  by,  and  felt  more  confidence  in,  the  Sixth 
Corps  than  any  of  the  others ;  and  though  we  were  very  far  from  being  whipped 
(as  G.  Norton  Gallaway  says  we  were),  still  the  sight  of  the  old  "red  cross" 
coming  up  the  hill  was  a  very  welcome  one,  indeed. 

13 


194  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

In  a  recent  conversation  Gen.  Lewis  A.  Grant,  then  commanding  the 
Vermont  Brigade,  and  at  this  writing  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  gave  me 
a  graphic  description  of  the  hand-to-hand  fighting  done  by  the  Second  Di 
vision  of  the  Sixth  Corps  at  the  Bloody  Angle.  The  General  said  that  it 
he  had  not  seen  it  no  one  could  have  made  him  believe  that  troops  would 
fight  as  the  Vermont  and  Bid  well's  Brigades  fought  there,  getting  right  up 
into  the  ditch  of  the  enemy's  works  and  staying  there,  some  holding  their 
muskets  up  over  their  heads  trying  to  fire  into  the  enemy  who  lay  on  the 
other  side,  some  jumping  on  top  of  the  breastwork  and  firing  down  among 
the  stubborn  enemy  until  they  were  shot  themselves,  others  digging  holes 
between  the  logs  so  as  to  fire  through  the  parapet,  and  all  this  for  more 
than  an  hour,  the  contending  forces  being  only  the  thickness  of  the  log 
breastwork  apart !  Gen.  Grant  also  relates  an  effort  that  was  made  to  get 
a  section  of  one  of  the  Sixth  Corps  Batteries  up  to  a  point  whence  it  could 
enfilade  a  part  of  these  works.  This  was  a  section  of  McKnight's  Battery 
(M),  5th  Eegulars,  commanded  by  Lieut.  Robinson.  The  General  says  the 
fire  from  the  enemy's  works  was  so  terrible  that  all  the  horses  of  this  sec 
tion  and  about  half  the  men  were  destroyed,  and  even  then  the  remaining 
men  tried  to  unlimber  the  guns  by  hand,  but  could  not  do  so  owing  to  the 
softness  of  the  ground  where  they  were.  Finally  the  two  guns  were  aban 
doned  and  left  there  until  night,  when  they  were  extricated  and  hauled  off. 

During  May  13  all  the  batteries  remained  in  camp  that  day,  and  at 
night  moved  by  by-roads  in  rear  of  the  army  to  the  Beverly  House,  on  the 
Fredericksburg  and  Spottsylvania  Courthouse  Road,  reaching  that  point 
about  sunrise  of  May  14.  On  arriving  at  the  Beverly  House  Ritten- 
house's  Battery  was  posted  across  the  pike  about  half  a  mile  beyond  the 
bridge  over  the  Ny,  bearing  upon  the  Courthouse  ;  distance,  2,200  yards. 
Cooper's  and  Breck's  Batteries  were  posted  close  to  the  Beverly  House, 
firing  to  the  left  flank  and  aiding  in  both  the  attacks  on  the  Myers  House 
made  on  the  afternoon  of  this  day.  The  remainder  of  the  batteries  re 
mained  in  reserve.  On  May  15  the  batteries  were  not  engaged.  Cooper's 
and  Rittenhouse's  remained  in  their  former  positions,  and  the  rest  of  the 
batteries  were  massed  in  column  along  the  road.  During  May  16  and 
17  none  of  the  batteries  were  engaged.  By  order  of  Gen.  Meade  the 
batteries  were  this  day  all  reduced  to  four  guns,  one  section  of  each  being 
turned  in  at  Belle  Plain.  The  six  caissons  were,  however,  kept  and  the 
surplus  horses,  so  far  as  they  were  serviceable.  On  the  17th  Maj.  R.  H. 
Fitzhugh,  1st  New  York  Artillery,  reported  from  the  reserve  with  four 
batteries,  as  follows:  Sheldon's  (B)  1st  New  York,  four  10-pounder  Parrotts; 
Barnes's  (C)  1st  New  York,  four  three-inch  Rodmans  ;  Bigelow's  9th  Massa 
chusetts,  four  12-pounder  Napoleons  ;  Hart's  loth  New  York  Independent, 
four  12-pounder  Napoleons.  So  the  number  and  caliber  of  the  guns  in  the 
brigade  remained  the  same  as  it  was  on  leaving  Culpeper,  being  now  12 
four-gun  instead  of  eight  six-gun  batteries.  May  18,  the  Second  and  Sixth 
Corps  having  returned  to  the  right  of  the  general  line  and  so  uncovered 
the  left,  Hart's,  Bigelow's  and  Walcott's  Batteries  of  light  12-pounders 


A  GLIMPSE  OF  GRANT.  195 

were  posted  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Anderson  House  to  protect  that 
flank  should  the  enemy  attack  there.  Before  daylight  Rittenhouse's  Bat 
tery  was  pushed  forward  on  the  pike  to  our  advanced  works,  about  1,400 
yards  from  the  Courthouse,  and  was  joined  by  Taft's  5th  New  York  Inde 
pendent  Battery  of  six  20-pouuder  Parrotts,  which  had  temporarily  joined 
the  brigade  the  night  before,  and  Sheldon's  Battery,  making  14  guns, 
under  command  of  Maj.  Fitzhugh.  At  the  same  time  Capt.  Cooper,  with 
his,  Breck's  and  Phillips' s  Batteries,  making  12  three-inch  guns,  was 
posted  at  a  sharp  knoll  to  the  front,  and  some  400  yards  to  the  left  of  Maj. 
Fitzhugh's  line,  making  an  angle  of  about  60  degrees  with  it. 

The  position  of  all  these  batteries  was  excellent ;  the  first  was  pro 
tected  by  fair  works,  and  the  rapid  descent  of  the  knoll  from  the  rear  to 
Cooper's  afforded  excellent  shelter  for  the  limbers.  The  enemy  had  20 
pieces  behind  their  lines,  in  front  and  to  their  right  of  the  Courthouse.  At 
the  time  the  Second  Corps  advanced  on  the  right  the  batteries  on  both  sides 
opened.  The  engagement  was  brisk  for  near  three-fourths  of  an  hour,  and 
the  practice  on  both  sides  was  very  accurate.  Fire  was  kept  up  at  inter 
vals  during  the  day  without  any  express  object,  and  with  no  perceptible 
result  except  the  silencing  of  the  enemy's  guns.  At  night,  the  Sixth  Corps 
having  returned  to  its  former  position  at  the  Anderson  House,  the  bat 
teries  there  were  withdrawn.  Taft's  Battery  also  left  for  Washington. 
May  19  Fitzhugh's  and  Cooper's  Batteries  remained  in  the  same  position, 
Taft  being  replaced  by  Bigelow.  They  fired  but  little  during  the  day. 
The  Fifth  Corps  now  being  the  right  of  the  army,  Mink's  and  Stewart's 
Batteries  were  posted  with  the  Fourth  Division  near  the  Deserted  House,  on 
the  right  of  the  pike  and  commanding  the  Valley  of  the  Ny  for  a  short  dis 
tance.  During  the  enemy's  attack  that  afternoon  on  the  Fredericksburg 
Pike  the  former  was  slightly  engaged  and  helped  to  repel  a  demonstration 
on-  the  point  he  occupied.  Barnes's  Battery  had  been  posted  in  the  morn 
ing  near  to  where  army  headquarters  had  been,  and  Hart  was  sent  up  there 
as  soon  as  the  attack  commenced.  These  two  batteries  contributed  mate 
rially  in  aiding  the  heavy  artillery  to  repulse  the  attack. 

On  the  14th  of  May  I  went  with  a  detail  back  to  the  trains  for  some 
supplies.  The  trains  had  been  moved  over  from  the  Germania  to  the 
Fredericksburg  Road  during  the  fights  about  Spottsylvania,  and  were 
guarded  by  Ferrero's  Negro  Division,  of  the  Ninth  Corps.  While  on  this 
detail  we  came  across  Gen.  Grant,  whom  we  had  not  seen  before  since  May 
6  at  the  Lacey  House.  He  was  at  a  place  called  Beverly's  Farm,  just 
north  of  the  Ny  Bridge,  on  the  Fredericksburg  Road,  and  Gen.  Meade  and 
a  good  many  staff  officers  were  with  him.  The  road  was  full  of  wagons 
and  ambulances,  so  we  had  to  move  slowly,  and  when  we  came  out  into 
the  clearing  and  saw  the  big  Generals,  one  of  our  squad  said,  ' '  Boys,  there 
is  Old  Grant ;  let's  get  a  good  look  at  him."  (Some  people  think  it  is  not 
respectful  to  say  "Old  Grant."  But  that  is  what  the  boys  called  him 
almost  universally.)  He  was  on  foot,  as  indeed  were  all  the  group,  except 
two  or  three  messengers,  who  were  probably  waiting  for  their  orders.  The 


196  THE  CANNONEEK. 

officers  about  him  were  nearly  all  taller  than  he  was,  and  he  was  certainly 
the  plainest  dressed  man  in  the  party.  He  had  on  a  General's  undress 
coat  much  the  worse  for  wear,  without  shoulder  straps,  but  with  his  stars 
worked  in  the  collar.  His  blue  trousers  were  soiled  and  threadbare,  and 
bagged  at  the  knees.  On  his  head  was  a  battered  old  hat  that  had  once 
been  military  style,  but  was  now  a  genuine  ' '  slouch, ' '  the  only  military 
vestige  it  retained  being  the  shabby-looking  gold  cord  that  encircled  it. 
He  had  no  belt  on  or  arms  of  any  kind  about  his  person,  though  doubtless 
he  had  revolvers  in  his  saddle  holsters. 

On  this  occasion  he  did  not  have  the  traditional  cigar  in  his  mouth, 
but  stood  with  one  foot  on  a  small  log  and  kept  tapping  his  bootleg  with  a 
small  riding-whip  while  he  talked.  As  our  detail  was  halted  quite  near 
him  we  watched  our  chance,  and  wThen  he  glanced  in  our  direction  we 
all  saluted,  which  he  returned  with  precision.  As  soon  as  we  could  get 
across  the  road  we,  of  course,  had  to  move  on,  and  when  we  came  back  he 
was  gone.  The  whole  of  the  Fredericksburg  Road  as  far  back  as  the  old 
toll-gate,  where  our  journey  ended,  and  as  far  beyond  as  we  could  see,  was 
jammed  with  our  trains,  baggage  and  ammunition  wagons,  ambulances, 
disabled  gun-carriages  and  caissons,  besides  great  numbers  parked  in  the 
open  fields  as  we  went  along.  All  the  old  houses  and  sheds  were  full  of 
wounded  who  could  not  be  moved  farther,  and  in  the  field  west  of  the 
road,  near  the  toll-gate,  were  many  of  the  wounded  Rebel  prisoners  from 
Johnson's  Division,  captured  on  the  morning  of  the  12th.  Some  of  these 
had  bayonet  wounds,  inflicted  when  Barlow's  men  first  jumped  their 
breastworks.  One  poor  devil  had  been  bayoneted  right  under  one  nostril, 
breaking  through  his  upper  jaw  and  lacerating  his  tongue  so  he  could  not 
speak.  He  lay  right  near  the  toll-gate,  where  we  halted,  and  one  of  our 
Surgeons  was  cleansing  and  dressing  his  wound.  He  must  have  got  "a 
down  lunge  "  from  one  of  our  fellows  on  the  top  of  the  breastwork.  The 
Surgeon,  in  reply  to  my  question,  said  the  wound  was  not  necessarily  dan 
gerous,  though  he  would  probably  always  have  an  impediment  in  his 
speech  !  Perhaps  more  bayonet  wounds  were  inflicted  the  12th  of  May  at 
Spottsylvania  than  in  all  the  other  battles  of  the  war  put  together. 

As  but  comparatively  few  of  the  wounded  of  Spottsylvania  had  been 
sent  to  Acquia  Creek  as  yet,  I  presume  there  were  15,000  of  them  strung 
along  the  road  at  this  time.  But  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe  the  scene ; 
suffice  to  say  that  it  was  even  more  horrible  than  that  ' '  second  night  of 
Gettysburg,"  described  in  foregoing  pages. 

The  operations  of  May  19  ended  the  battle — or  rather  the  series  ot 
battles — known  to  history  by  the  general  term  of  Spottsylvania.  We  had 
been  engaged  11  days,  from  the  8th  to  the  18th,  inclusive,  and  had  been 
under  fire  six  days  out  of  the  11.  The  batteries  had  enjoyed  but  compara 
tively  small  chance  of  usefulness  in  this  ' '  bushwhacking  on  a  grand  scale, ' ' 
known  as  the  Wilderness  and  Spottsylvania  campaign.  We  had  not  been 
once  real  sharply  charged  by  infantry  in  the  open.  Probably  we  did  not 
expend  a  dozen  rounds  of  canister  in  the  whole  campaign  Most  of  our 


CASUALTIES  OF  SPOTTSYLVANIA.  197 

work  had  been  cannonading  earthworks  from  unfavorable  positions,  or  in 
minor  demonstrations  connected  with  infantry  assaults.  But  we  had  done 
everything  that  had  been  required  of  us,  and  had  been  willing  to  do  more. 
The  Battery  had  suffered  casualties  on  the  8th,  the  12th  and  two  other 
days,  as  follows,  without  attempting  to  separate  the  losses  of  different  days : 
Killed  or  mortally  wounded,  Lieut.  Thomas  Goodman  and  Privates  William 
Irving,  Isaac  Vandicar,  Anson  Jillson,  A.  J.  Wilkeson,  "Brig"  Johnson 
(captured  and  died  in  Andersonville),  together  with  an  infantryman  from 
Eobinson's  Division,  named  Paul  Winegar,  who  was  killed  in  the  Battery 
May  8.  The  wounded  were  Peter  Bateway,  Frank  Root,  Tom  Evans, 
William  Hulin,  Lewis  Jerome,  Martin  McNamara,  John  Orth,  Tom  Price 
(not  badly),  William  Hutchinson,  John  Maddice,  Richard  Tea,  Herman 
Burckitt  and  Jay  DeGraff ;  but  five  or  six  of  these  were  not  disabled,  and 
hence  not  reported  in  the  casualty  returns.  The  terrific  fatigue  and  pri 
vation  of  more  than  two  weeks  of  almost  solid  battle  had  also  told  upon  the 
health  of  the  men,  and  several  gave  out.  Our  horses  were  also  pretty  much 
' '  done  up. ' '  They  had  been  in  harness  almost  continuously  since  May  5  — 
two  whole  weeks  —  and  when  the  back  pads  and  collars  were  taken  off,  in 
many  cases  the  skin  of  the  poor  animals  came  off  with  them  !  Having  been 
raised  on  a  big  farm  where  much  attention  was  given  to  breeding  horses,  I 
had  from  boyhood  been  a  great  lover  of  those  animals,  and  found  pleasure 
in  taking  care  of  them.  The  Captain  knew  this,  and  so  usually  assigned  to 
my  care  one  of  the  spare  horses  when  we  had  any.  In  this  campaign  we 
had  a  little  mouse-colored  pony  mare  —  a  mustang  —  who  had  evidently 
been  captured  or  strayed  from  the  enemy  in  the  Wilderness,  and  she  was 
assigned  to  me  to  take  care  of.  She  was  a  very  intelligent  and  affectionate 
little  creature,  and,  though  not  more  than  12  hands  high,  did  good  service, 
as  will  appear  later.  On  this  occasion  Andy  McBride  was  going  to  put  her 
into  one  of  the  teams  to  replace  a  horse  that  was  played  out,  but  my  pro 
tests  were  so  vigorous  that  the  Captain  would  not  allow  her  to  be  harnessed. 
Besides  this  pony,  part  of  the  care  of  "Old  Tartar"  devolved  on  me  after 
his  guardian,  Ike  Vandicar,  was  killed  the  8th  of  May.  Altogether  the 
campaign  from  May  5  to  May  20  had  cost  the  Battery  about  35  men,  sick  in 
cluded.  This  would  have  cut  us  down  to  alx>ut  75  present  for  duty,  but 
between  the  above  dates  several  of  the  veterans  returned  from  the  hospital 
or  veteran  furlough,  among  whom  were  Ben  Stillman,  Griff  Wallace, 
who  rejoined  May  5,  Colby,  Dan  Ackerman  and  Frank  McCormick,  and 
besides  these  we  got  a  few  excellent  men  from  the  Reserve  Artillery  when 
it  was  broken  up.  Among  these  were  Charley  Seymour  and  Ambrose 
Seeley,  from  one  of  the  Rhode  Island  batteries,  Jerome  Manners,  from  a 
New  York  battery,  and  the  others  have  passed  from  my  memory.  They 
were  all  near  the  ends  of  their  three-year  terms  and  were  discharged 
shortly  after  our  arrival  at  Petersburg.  Seeley  and  Manners  were  very  ac 
complished  young  gentlemen  and  excellent  artillerists,  both  having  been 
non-commissioned  officers  in  their  original  batteries.  Both  had  enlisted 
from  college  in  1861.  A  large  number  of  young  men  of  excellent  social 


198 


THE  CANNONEER. 


connections  and  superior  education  served  in  the  Battery  from  time  to  time 
during  the  four  years.  Stewart  was  always  delighted  to  get  men  of  that 
character,  and  at  once  did  everything  in  his  power  to  make  them  "feel  at 
home"  in  his  camp. 

My  most  serious  offense  against  good  discipline  in  three  years'  serv 
ice  occurred  during  the  battles  of  Spottsylvania.  The  offense  was  in 
subordination  and  disrespectful  or  insulting  language  toward  Ord.  Serg't 
McBride  while  building  little  redoubts  for  the  guns  the  night  of  May  17. 
Andy  —  or  "Old  Bull,"  as  we  used  to  call  him  —  pulled  my  ear  pretty 
sharply  and  said  that  he  had  a  mind  to  knock  my  head  off,  but  contented 
himself  with  repeating  his  order,  which  I  started  to  obey.  But  the  Cap 
tain,  overhearing  the  conversation,  reprimanded  me  sternly;  said  he  was 
amazed  at  such  behavior,  and  very  gravely  told  me  that  I  had  been  "in 
subordinate  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  a  crime  punishable  witrrdeath,  "  etc., 
but  that  he  would  not 
prefer  charges  this  time 
on  account  of  previous 
good  conduct.  He  must 
rebuke  such  behavior, 
and  therefore  I  must  go 
on  fatigue  duty  all  night 
or  until  the  works  were 
finished  !  "And  this,'' 
he  added,  "in  view  of 
the  gravity  of  yonr 
offense  can  hardly  be 
called  punishment." 
His  manner  was  so 
awfully  serious  that  at 
first  I  thought  myself 
lucky  to  escape  being 
court  -martailed  and 
shot.  But  I  guess  he 
never  really  had  much 
idea  of  having  me 
"brought  up  to  the 


bull-ring,"   as  we  used 


to  term  the  fate  of  mili- 
tary  execution  !     On  oc- 


BEN  STILLMAN. 
[From  a  war-time  photograph.] 
casions  of  discipline  he  could  certainly  assume  an  air  of  awful  sternness 
that,  to  a  young  soldier  accustomed  to  his  usually  genial  ways,  was  simply 
overpowering. 

To  return  to  larger  and  more  interesting  themes,  it  will  probably  be  the 
verdict  of  impartial  history  that  the  enemy  had  the  best  of  it  in  the  battles 
around  Spottsylvania  Courthouse.  They  were  fighting  behind  strong  cover 
all  the  time,  both  infantry  and  artillery,  and  never  once  showed  up  in  the 


JUST  BEGINNING  TO  FIGHT.  19£ 

open.  The  only  great  success  we  gained  was  the  capture  of  Edward  John 
son's  Division  by  the  Second  Corps  on  the  12th  of  May,  and  even  that  ad 
vantage  was  neutralized  by  the  subsequent  events  of  that  day.  As  our 
troops  were  assaulting  all  the  time,  our  losses  were  necessarily  greater 
than  theirs — at  least  two  to  one,  and  probably  more,  even  including  the 
prisoners  taken  in  Johnson's  Division.  One  of  Gen.  Lee's  biographers 
says  that  Lee  was  astonished  when  he  saw  that  we  were  moving  again  to 
the  left,  as  he  had  fully  expected  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  to  recoil  from 
Spottsylvania  and  make  the  best  of  its  way  to  the  north  bank  of  the  Rap- 
pahannock.  This  might  have  been  a  natural  supposition,  as  Gen.  Lee 
was  doubtless  reasoning  from  his  previous  experience.  But  he  did  not 
know  that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  come  to  stay  this  time,  and  that 
even  though  it  had  lost  nearly  40,000  men  in  the  Wilderness  and  around 
Spottsylvania,  those  who  remained  were  none  the  less  determined  to  ' '  fight 
it  out  on  that  line. ' '  I  venture  to  say  that  there  was  never  another  army 
in  the  world  that  would  have  started  off  by  its  flank  in  another  advance 
after  such  a  series  of  sanguinary  repulses  as  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
suffered  about  Spottsylvania  Courthouse.  The  losses  of  the  Union  forces 
were  as  follows,  from  the  "Revised  Returns  "  as  they  will  appear  in  the 
official  tabulation  of  the  War  Records  : 

SECOND  CORPS. 

First  Division 2,393 

Second  Division 1,563 

Third  Division 1,015 

Fourth  Division 517 

Heavy  Artillery  Brigade 1,097 

Light  Artillery  Brigade 55 

General  Staff 2 

6,642 

FIFTH  CORPS. 

First  Division 1,514 

Second  Division 1,161 

Third  Division 435 

Fourth  Division 926 

Heavy  Artillery  Brigade 317 

Light  Artillery  Brigade 126 

General  Staff 1 

4,480 

SIXTH  CORPS. 

First  Division 2,263 

Second  Division 1,453 

Third  Division 306 

Light  Artillery  Brigade 19 

Gen.  Sedgwick 1 

4,042- 

Cavalry,  etc 81 

Total  Army  of  the  Potomac 15,245 

Total  Ninth  Corps 3,145 

Spottsylvania  total 18,390 

Wilderness  total 17,666 


Recapitulation  to  May  20 36,056- 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


ON  TO  RICHMOND — HEAVY  SKIRMISHING  AT  NORTH  ANNA — SHARP 
WORK  FOR  THE  BATTERIES  —  ADVANCE  TO  COLD  HARBOR — BE- 
THESDA  CHURCH  —  CHARGE  OF  THE  BATTERY  —  TERRIFIC  CAN 
NON  DUEL  AT  SHORT  RANGE  —  DESPERATE  BUT  FUTILE  ASSAULTS 
—  SICKENING  FATE  OF  THE  WOUNDED  —  UGLY  TEMPER  OF  THE 
TROOPS  —  ADVANCE  ON  PETERSBURG. 

MONG  the  batteries  which  had  joined 
us  from  the  reserve  on  the  17th  or 
18th  of  May,  the  15th  New  York 
(Paddy  Hart's)  had  long  been  distin 
guished  both  for  the  peculiarity  of  its 
personnel  and  excellence  of  its  serv 
ice.  It  had  been  formed  originally 
by  consolidating  two  proposed  bat 
teries  raised  to  accompany  the  Irish 
Brigade  and  the  Corcoran  Legion,  re 
spectively,  and  soon  came  under  com 
mand  of  Capt.  Patrick  Hart.  Capt. 
Hart  was  an  old  Regular,  a  veteran  of 
the  Mexican  war,  and  a  rare  character  ; 
in  fact,  he  was  such  an  old  Regular 
that  no  one  could  remember  when  he 
was  a  recruit,  and  nobody  in  the  Fifth 
Corps,  from  Gen.  Warren  down,  ever 
thought  of  calling  him  anything 
but  "Uncle  Paddy."  As  long  as 
they  remained  in  the  Corps  the  brave 
old  Irish  warrior  and  ' '  me  Batthery, ' ' 
as  he  used  to  call  it,  were  the  observed 
of  all  observers.  Uncle  Paddy,  like 
most  other  old  Regulars,  had  a  very 

soft  place  in  his  heart  for  a  good  soldier,  but  he  was  great  on  discipline  — 
which  he  always  pronounced  with  a  strong  accent  on  the  second  syllable 
—  and  his  "batthery  "  was  a  very  poor  Summer  resort  for  a  deadbeat  or  a 
•coffee-cooler.  Some  of  Uncle  Paddy's  "punishments,"  when  he  was  deal 
ing  with  the  recruits  of  1864,  of  whom  he  had  some  tough  specimens,  were, 
to  say  the  least,  exemplary.  And  when  there  was  no  other  convenient 
subject  upon  which  to  exercise  discipline,  Uncle  Paddy  would  sometimes 
put  one  of  his  Lieutenants  under  arrest  simply  to  keep  his  hand  in  !  How- 


PADDY  HART'S  BATTERY.  201 

•ever,  laying  aside  all  the  jokes  we  used  to  crack  at  his  expense,  our  Uncle 
Patrick  was  a  noble  old  soldier,  and  if  any  artillery  organization  made  a 
better  record  than  his  Irish  "Batthery  "  did  whenever  it  got  a  chance,  the 
fact  has  escaped  iny  notice.  If  Paddy  Hart's  Battery  had  any  conspicuous 
fault,  it  was  the  fact  that  it  had  a  little  too  much  "fight "  in  its  composi 
tion,  and  was  not  always  particular  in  selecting  the  ' '  enemy. ' '  The  author 
carries,  and  will  carry  to  his  grave,  a  visible  reminder  of  this  peculiarity  in 
the  shape  of  a  deformed  finger  which  one  of  Hart's  boys  chewed  to  a  pulp 
one  night  when  we  halted  on  the  march  from  the  North  Anna  to  Cold  Har 
bor.  This  affair  came  near  involving  the  men  of  both  batteries  in  a  gen 
eral  riot.  As  it  was,  bloody  noses  were  distributed  around  with  perfect 
impartiality;  but  the  officers  interfered,  and  after  that  there  was  no  serious 
trouble. 

When  quiet  was  restored  Stewart  at  once  demanded  an  explanation 
of  the  row.  I  related  the  facts,  with  which  he  seemed  to  be  satisfied,  as  he 
paid  no  further  attention  to  the  matter.  But  he  remarked  that  he  ' '  should 
think  that  the  boys  could  get  fighting  enough  in  that  campaign  without 
chawing  each  other  up  ! "  Stewart  did  not  countenance  his  men  in  pick 
ing  quarrels  with  other  troops,  but  he  always  expected  them  to  take  care 
of  themselves  in  proper  shape  if  they  were  imposed  on,  and  he  very  seldom, 
if  ever,  punished  one  of  his  men  for  fighting  outside  of  the  Battery.  Com 
rade  Phil  Hanrahan  writes  me  that  this  boy  who  chewed  my  fingers  was 
a  little  fellow  named  Quinn,  from  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  that  he  was  killed  at 
the  Weldon  Railroad.  He  was  a  game  and  gallant  little  fellow.  I  threw 
him  easily  in  the  clinch  we  had,  as  he  was  much  lighter  and  weaker  than 
I,  but  he  fought  like  a  wild  cat,  as  well  under  as  he  would  have  done  on 
top,  a  fact  to  which  the  fore  and  middle  fingers  of  my  left  hand  will  bear 
testimony  as  long  as  I  live.  Poor  boy  !  peace  to  his  ashes  and  honor  to  his 
name  ! 

Generally  speaking,  however,  it  it  safe  to  say  that  in  no  other  cam 
paign  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  there  so  much  or  such  desperate 
rough-and-tumble  fighting  among  the  enlisted  men,  and  even  officers,  as  in 
this  veritable  battle-march  from  the  Rapidan  to  the  James.  It  may  have 
been  a  sort  of  reflex  of  the  nature  of  the  campaign ;  but  it  is  certain  that 
a  tigerish  spirit  seemed  to  pervade  every  breast,  and  men  and  boys  who, 
at  home  or  in  camp,  would  never  think  of  fighting  or  brawling,  now  be 
came  perfect  desperadoes.  Hence  it  was  that  within  the  scope  of  that 
"crimson  stripe  across  the  map,"  which  describes  the  campaign  of  1864, 
it  seemed  as  if  the  days  of  medieval  chaos  had  come  back  again,  and  that 
on  our  fair  soil  were  being  repeated  the  dread  scenes  which  Thomas  Carlyle 
describes  in  his  essay  on  Voltaire,  where  he  says : 

When  Tamerlane  had  finished  building  his  pyramid  of  70,000  human  skulls, 
and  was  seen  standing  at  the  gate  Damascus,  glittering  in  steel,  with  battle-ax 
on  his  shoulder,  while  his  fierce  hosts  filed  out  to  new  victories  and  new  car 
nage,  the  pale  onlooker  might  have  fancied  that  Nature  was  in  her  death- 
throes  ;  for  havoc  and  despair  had  taken  possession  of  the  earth,  and  the  Sun 
of  Manhood  seemed  setting  in  seas  of  blood  I 


202  THE  CANNONEER. 

Such  was  the  frame  of  mind  and  such  the  grim,  savage,  almost  mur 
derous  spirit  that  pervaded  the  relentless  Army  of  the  Potomac  as  it  swung 
loose  from  the  blood-clotted  breastworks  of  sanguinary  Spottsylvania  and 
started  again  for  Richmond  at  daylight  May  21,  1864  ! 

The  Artillery  Brigade  of  the  Fifth  Corps  left  the  Beverly  House  at  10 
a.  m.  and  moved  to  Guiney's  Station,  crossed  the  Mattapony  at  the  bridge 
near  that  place  and  bivouacked  for  the  night  on  the  south  side  of  the  river. 
On  May  22  we  started  at  noon  and  marched  by  the  old  Telegraph  Road  to 
Bullock  Church  and  camped  for  the  night.  On  May  23  we  moved  at  day 
light,  the  head  of  the  column  arriving  at  the  North  Anna  about  11  o'clock 
a.  m.  This  being  the  position  which  the  Second  Corps  was  to  occupy,  we 
passed  to  the  right,  striking  the  river  again  at  Jericho  Mills  or  Jericho  Ford. 
Rittenhouse's  Battery  was  then  placed  in  position  on  the  north  bank,  im 
mediately  on  the  left  of  the  road  leading  to  the  ford,  and  soon  after  Breck's 
Battery  took  position  about  100  rods  farther  down  below  the  bend  of  the 
river.  The  First  Division  was  at  once  pushed  across  the  ford,  Bartlett's 
Brigade  leading,  meeting  with  no  opposition,  followed  by  the  Third  and 
Fourth  Divisions.  As  soon  as  the  pontoon  bridge  was  laid  the  six  12-pounder 
batteries  crossed.  Meanwhile  the  First  Division  had  advanced  into  a  piece 
of  woods,  about  1,200  yards  from  and  immediately  in  front  of  the  ford,  and 
had  slightly  intrenched  their  position.  While  crossing  the  North  Anna  our 
rear  gun  ran  one  of  its  wheels  off  the  edge  of  the  bridge  and  blocked  the 
way.  Stewart  at  once  proceeded  to  extricate  the  gun,  and  while  he  was 
doing  so  Gen.  Grant  came  along,  and  finding  the  way  blocked  became  im 
patient  and  began  to  give  orders  directly  to  the  men,  apparently  disre 
garding  the  Captain.  The  latter  saluted  him,  and  said  : 

''General,  if  you  will  permit  me,  sir,  I  will  take  care  of  this  gun  !" 

"Very  well,"  replied  Grant ;  "you  probably  know  better  how  to  do 
it  than  I  do!" 

The  Third  and  Fourth  Divisions  were  now  —  about  5  p.  m. —  pushed 
forward  on  the  left  and  right  of  the  First  to  complete  the  chord  across  the 
bend  of  the  river.  On  the  left  Crawford's  Division  succeeded  in  reaching 
its  position  near  the  Fountaine  House,  and  Hart's  and  Stewart's  Batteries 
were  posted  in  rear  of  its  right,  on  good  ground.  In  the  attack  which  was 
made  on  both  flanks  near  dusk  the  enemy  brought  eight  guns  to  bear  on 
this  point,  which  were  soon  silenced  by  the  fire  of  Stewart's  and  Hart's 
Batteries  at  close  range,  using  case  shot,  assisted  by  Rittenhouse's,  Breck's 
and  Cooper's  Batteries,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  at  long  range,  using 
shot  and  shell.  Meanwhile  Cutler's  Fourth  Division  was  going  into  posi 
tion  on  the  right  of  the  First.  The  column  moved  by  the  flank  and  formed 
into  echelon  of  regiments  as  it  neared  the  corner  of  the  woods.  One  brigade 
had  joined  us  to  the  right  of  the  First  Division  and  extended  to  the  edge  of 
the  woods.  The  leading  brigade  was  advancing  toward  an  open  ridge  on 
the  right  of  the  woods  in  the  direction  of  the  river,  when  the  enemy's  line 
of  battle  arose  from  behind  the  ridge,  fired  a  volley  and  at  once  charged 
upon  their  flank.  The  brigade  gave  way.  Mink's  Battery  was  moving  up 


THE  NOKTH  ANNA.  203 

behind  the  column  to  take  position  on  the  ridge  as  soon  as  the  division  could 
deploy.  Gen.  AVainwright,  being  present  at  this  point  in  person,  ordered 
Mink  to  cover  our  right  flank.  Capt.  Mink  advanced  in  line  and  came  into 
position  at  canister  range,,  and  soon  checked  the  enemy's  advance.  Rich- 
ardson's  Battery  (D,  1st  New  York,)  and  Walcott's  3d  Massachusetts,  were 
also  brought  up  at  a  trot  and  formed  on  the  right  of  Mink's,  so  as  to  cover 
all  our  flank  to  the  river.  The  behavior  of  all  these  batteries  was  admirable 
and  their  firing  excellent.  By  it  the  attack  of  the  enemy  was  repulsed  and 
our  infantry  enabled  to  reform.  The  losses  were  severe  in  all  the  batteries 
but  ours.  Capt.  Davis,  our  gallant  and  popular  Brigade  Inspector,  was  mor 
tally  wounded  in  endeavoring  to  rally  the  broken  infantry  in  rear  of  Mink's 
Battery.  Lieut.  Mathewson,  of  D,  1st  New  York,  and  Lieut.  Craighill, 
of  the  3d  Massachusetts,  were  hit  soon  after  their  batteries  went  into  po 
sition.  In  Capt.  Davis  the  Artillery  Brigade  lost  one  of  the  most  promising 
young  officers  in  the  service.  He  was  modest,  gentlemanly,  hard-working, 
and  every  inch  a  soldier.  He  was  without  exception  the  most  popular 
staff  officer  in  the  brigade. 

The  most  interesting  part  of  this  day's  combat  to  us  was  our  joint 
operation  with  Paddy  Hart's  Battery,  the  first  time  we  had  ever  been  in 
action  "hub  to  hub"  with  that  gallant  Irish  outfit.  About  4  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  the  Iron  Brigade  and  other  troops  of  Cutler's  Division  were 
still  ' '  extending  to  the  right, ' '  when  the  enemy  attacked  them  front  and 
flank,  and  they  began  to  fall  back  rapidly,  though  in  good  order,  toward 
our  position.  As  soon  as  we  could  safely  fire  over  their  heads  we  opened 
with  case,  which  we  changed  to  canister  as  soon  as  our  front  was  sufficiently 
clear.  Some  of  the  7th  Wisconsin  men,  who  reformed  about  the  house  in 
our  rear,  told  us  that  our  canister  sang  songs  in  their  ears  as  they  came  up 
the  hill.  There  was  an  amusing  circumstance  in  this  little  flurry.  The 
Eebels  followed  the  retreating  troops  of  the  Iron  Brigade  closely,  keeping 
along  the  bank  of  the  river  until  they  came  under  a  heavy  cross  fire  from 
our  guns  on  the  hill  and  our  rifle  batteries  on  the  north  bank.  This  made 
them  lie  down,  and  the  fire  was  so  hot  that  their  retreat  was  cut  off.  In 
this  wray  as  many  as  600  of  them  were  compelled  to  surrender  by  our  in 
fantry  advancing  again,  and  those  prisoners  declared  their  belief  that  the 
rapid  retreat  of  the  Iron  Brigade  was  simply  a  device  to  draw  them  into 
the  trap.  That  was  the  way  it  turned  out,  but  probably  there  was  no 
premeditation  of  that  sort  on  the  part  of  the  Iron  Brigade.  That  brigade, 
with  all  its  heroism,  was  by  no  means  deficient  in  speed  when  occasion  re 
quired,  which  was  the  case  here !  As  it  was  now  almost  dark,  pickets 
were  thrown  out  and  we  bivouacked  in  position.  "We  remained  in  this 
position  all  night,  intrenching  by  reliefs  during  the  night.  The  Sixth 
Corps — or  part  of  it — also  came  up  and  reinforced  us  before  morning. 
Early  this  morning — the  24th — the  enemy  began  demonstrating,  skir 
mishing  and  sharpshooting  against  our  right  front  and  flank.  One  section 
was  now  put  in  position  on  the  knoll  west  of  the  Fountaine  House,  where 
they  opened  with  case  on  the  Rebel  skirmishers.  In  this  affair  the  Bat- 


204  THE  CANNONEER, 

tery  lost  Lance  Serg't  Elbridge  G.  Packard,  mortally  wounded,  and  four 
others  wounded,  none  of  them  severely.  This  young  gentleman  was  one 
of  my  best  friends  in  the  Battery.  He  was  about  25  years  of  age.  His 
native  State,  I  think,  was  Maine,  but  he  had  gone  to  Wisconsin,  where  he 
enlisted  at  the  very  first  tocsin  in  May,  1861.  He  was  at  that  time  teach 
ing  school  at  a  place  called  Sun  Prairie.  He  was  a  prime  favorite  with 
Stewart,  who  considered  him  one  of  the  best  all-round  men  he  had.  He 
had  a  long  record  of  gallantry  and  honorable  mention  in  battle  reports, 
beginning  as  far  back  as  Antietam  and  including  Gettysburg  and  Spottsyl- 
vania  ;  but  his  bright  career  was  forever  blighted  in  this  miserable  skir 
mish  at  the  North  Anna.  Veterans  though  we  were  of  many  a  desperate 
battle,  and  inured  to  scenes  of  human  butchery,  there  were  many  moist 
eyes  in  the  Battery  when  our  poor  Packard  was  taken  away  to  die.  We 
all  tried  to  comfort  him  by  telling  him  that  he  would  pull  through  and  all 
that,  though  we  knew  he  couldn't,  because  he  was  hit  in  the  abdomen,  and 
his  death  was  only  a  question  of  a  few  days.  Just  at  sundown  they  loaded 
him  into  an  ambulance  and  took  him  away.  We  never  saw  him  again. 
He  died  two  or  three  days  afterward.  Poor  Packard  !  All  that  can  be 
said  of  him  is  that  he  was  one  of  Stewart's  best  and  bravest  Cannoneers ! 

We  remained  in  this  position  till  daylight  of  the  25th.  Then  we  ad 
vanced  to  the  left  front  until  we  reached  the  track  of  the  Virginia  Central 
Eailroad.  Here  we  went  into  battery  and  some  strange  infantry  came  up 
to  support  us.  We  soon  learned  that  this  was  a  division  of  the  Ninth 
Corps,  commanded  by  Gen.  Crittenden,  who  had  just  come  from  the  West, 
and  had  been  temporarily  attached  to  that  corps.  Part  of  them  were 
Stevenson's  old  Division,  of  the  Ninth  Corps,  which  we  had  known  at  the 
Wilderness  Tavern  May  6,  and  which  had  been  broken  up  after  Spottsyl- 
vania.  Our  position  was  just  south  of  the  track  of  the  railroad,  and  near 
a  house  called  Lowery's.  Light  intrenchments  were  thrown  up  in  an  in 
credibly  short  time,  entirely  of  earth,  as  there  was  no  convenient  timber 
except  a  few  rails.  The  house  was  on  our  line,  the  breastworks  passing 
through  its  front  yard.  The  occupants,  an  old  gentleman  and  two  or  three 
women,  stood  on  their  porch  and  watched  our  men  dig.  One  of  our  officers 
approached  and  told  them  they  ought  to  go  to  the  rear,  as  they  would  be  in 
great  danger  when  the  firing  began,  as  this  was  not  more  than  100  rods 
from  the  Eebel  works.  The  old  gentleman  replied,  with  a  perceptible 
effort  to  be  dramatic,  "No,  sir ;  never,  sir  !  I  am  too  old  to  fight.  I  can 
do  nothing,  sir,  for  my  invaded  State  but  to  die  in  my  home  ! "  "  But, 
my  dear  sir, ' '  persisted  the  officer,  ' '  if  you  should  die  in  your  own  home 
it  would  be  by  bullets  of  your  own  friends,  and  I  don't  see  wThat  good  that 
could  do  your  State. "  Finally  the  old  gentleman  saw  the  absurdity  of  his 
position,  and  all  the  inmates  of  the  house  went  up  the  railroad  track  to  the 
rear.  The  enemy's  works  in  our  front  were  apparently  strong,  but  he 
showed  no  disposition  to  come  out  of  them,  and  our  infantry  did  not  at 
tack.  We  fired  several  rounds  of  case  to  make  him  develop  his  artriiery, 
.but  elicited  no  reply,  and  after  a  while  we  ceased. 


KEEN  SHARPSHOOTIXG.  205 

The  Rebel  infantry  kept  up  a  constant  fusillade  of  snapshooting, 
which  was  pretty  effective,  considering  that  the  range  was  over  100  rods. 
No  one  was  hit  with  us,  but  the  volunteer  batteries  suffered  some,  Mink 
and  Hart  losing  several  men.  While  in  this  position,  as  we  were  not  firing, 
the  men  were  all  ordered  to  keep  down  behind  the  little  earthwork,  but 
my  curiosity  got  the  best  of  me.  I  had  picked  up  a  small  field  glass, 
probably  lost  by  some  officer,  in  one  of  our  movements  at  Spottsylvania, 
and  was  standing  up  with  my  body  against  the  tire  of  the  wheel  and  rest 
ing  the  glass  on  the  top  of  the  tire  to  survey  their  works,  when  a  sharp 
shooter's  bullet  struck  the  tire  just  forward  of  the  top,  on  the  downward 
curve  of  the  wheel,  and  "spattered."  Thin  scales  of  it  went  through  my 
cap  and  lodged  in  my  hair,  but  none  of  them  cut  the  skin. 

"Probably  you'll  keep  down  now,  as  I  told  you  to,"  remarked  the 
Captain,  who  was  sitting  near  the  trail  of  the  gun.  "  Maybe  you'll  obey 
that  kind  of  orders,  if  you  won't  mine,"  he  added,  with  grim  sarcasm. 

This  thing  seemed  to  amuse  the  Old  Man  excessively,  and  he  asked 
several  times  afterward  "if  I  didn't  want  to  sell  that  field  glass?"  He 
was  quite  right.  I  "obeyed  the  orders"  of  that  Rebel  sharpshooter  im 
plicitly,  and  my  head  was  not  seen  above  the  works  again.  My  curiosity 
had  for  once  been  completely  satisfied.  I  used  to  have  a  theory  that  I 
"bore  a  charmed  life,"  as  the  saying  is;  that  no  ball  was  made  for  me, 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  and  used  to  brag  about  it.  So,  when  I  got  down 
with  alacrity  on  this  occasion,  the  boys  all  laughed  at  me.  It  was  a  close 
call.  If  the  bullet  had  come  three  inches  higher  it  would  have  got  me 
right  over  the  bridge  of  the  nose,  and  these  reminiscences  would  have 
remained  unwritten. 

Bigelow's  Battery,  in  rear  of  our  lines,  and  Sheldon's,  on  the  north 
bank,  also  fired  a  few  rounds  during  this  engagement.  The  action  lasted 
till  after  dark,  when  our  lines  were  well  established.  Mink's,  Walcott's 
and  Richardson's  Batteries  remained  in  position  on  the  right  of  our  line. 
Stewart's  and  Hart's  were  advanced  to  the  left  about  600  yards,  and  posted 
near  the  Fountaine  House  to  command  the  Virginia  Central  Railroad.  About 
dark  Maj.  Fitzhugh,  with  the  two  last-named  batteries  and  Phillips's,  re 
ported  to  Gen.  Griffin,  commanding  the  First  Division.  There  was  no  ac 
tion  during  the  day.  On  May  26  the  line  was  extended  to  the  left  to  join  the 
Ninth  Corps.  The  three  batteries  with  Maj.  Fitzhugh — Stewart's,  Hart's 
and  Phillips's — were  engaged  at  times  during  the  day  on  the  skirmish  line 
of  Gen.  Griffin's  front,  but  could  elicit  no  reply  from  the  enemy's  artillery, 
although  Hart's  and  Phillips's  suffered  considerably  from  the  enemy's  sharp 
shooters.  The  object  of  posting  the  batteries  in  these  positions,  however, 
was  gained  in  partially  silencing  the  enemy's  skirmishers  in  front  of  the 
First  Division.  Cooper's,  Breck's  and  Walcott's  Batteries  were  also  in 
position  on  the  front  of  Crawford's  Division,  on  the  left  of  the  corps,  but 
not  engaged.  During  the  whole  day  of  May  26  the  batteries  were  idle, 
but  the  infantry  was  engaged  in  destroying  the  railroad.  At  dark  the  Fifth 
Corps  withdrew  to  the  north  side  of  the  river,  and  all  the  batteries  were 


206  THE  CANNONEER. 

ordered  to  be  in  readiness  to  march.  The  next  day  they  moved  to  the 
Pamunky  crossing  and  camped  for  the  night  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Mongohick  and  Brandy  wine.  Early  in  the  morning  of  May  28  they  crossed 
the  Pamunky  at  the  ford  near  Hanover  Town,  the  corps  taking  position 
on  the  south  bank  in  front  of  Dr.  Brockenbrough's  House  and  intrenching, 
the  left  resting  on  the  Totopotomoy  and  the  right  crossing  the  main  road  to 
what  was  called  ' '  Hawes's  Store. "  The  following-named  batteries  were  in 
position  from  right  to  left :  Cooper's,  Stewart's,  Bigelow's,  Barnes's,  Breck's 
and  Phillips's.  There  was  no  engagement  at  this  point.  On  May  29  we 
moved  at  10  a.  m.  by  way  of  Hawes's  Store  and  formed  on  the  left  of  the 
Ninth  Corps,  the  First  Division  being  the  left  of  our  line  and  reaching 
across  the  Totopotomoy  to  Widow  Via's  Farm. 

Maj.  Fitzhugh  had  Eittenhouse's,  Richardson's  and  Mink's  Batteries 
in  position  at  this  point,  the  first  of  which  threw  a  few  shells  into  the 
woods  toward  the  Mechanicsville  Road.  The  remaining  batteries  were 
parked  near  headquarters,  at  the  Vorman  House.  On  May  30  the  whole 
corps  advanced  to  the  Via  House.  The  First  Division  was  pushed  up  the 
Shady  Grove  Road,  accompanied  by  Maj.  Fitzhugh's  three  batteries,  Mink 
engaging  one  of  the  enemy's  batteries,  which  had  opened  on  the  head  of 
our  column.  The  Third  Division  (Crawford's)  at  the  same  time  moved 
out  to  gain  the  Mechanicsville  Pike.  Their  skirmishers  had  just  crossed  it 
near  the  Tinsley  House,  where  the  enemy  charged  and  drove  the  division 
back  nearly  to  the  Shady  Grove  Road.  Richardson's  Battery  immediately 
took  position  across  the  road  by  which  the  Third  Division  was  retreating 
and  opened  with  solid  shot  and  afterward  with  canister,  when  the  enemy 
made  a  determined  charge  on  that  battery  and  was  repulsed  by  it  almost 
unaided,  leaving  dead  within  30  feet  of  its  muzzles.  Richardson  got  great 
credit  from  Gens.  Griffin  and  Crawford  for  the  handling  of  his  battery  at 
this  point.  Mink's  Battery  was  posted  on  the  north  side  of  the  Shady 
Grove  Road,  immediately  in  front  of  the  Bowles  House,  and  Breck's  was 
brought  up  on  the  left  of  Richardson's.  At  the  same  time  Rittenhouse's, 
"Walcott's  and  Bigelow's  were  posted  on  the  extreme  left  of  our  line,  near 
the  Armstrong  House,  the  last  named  also  having  a  good  field  of  fire  over 
the  open  ground  around  the  Bowles  House  should  we  have  to  draw  back 
from  that  position.  Later  in  the  day  the  three  batteries  were  pushed  for 
ward  about  800  yards  across  a  small  run  to  a  ridge,  from  which  they  could 
command  the  Mechanicsville  Road  at  and  to  the  east  of  Bethesda  Church. 
All  these  batteries  were  engaged  during  the  afternoon  in  a  sharp  contest 
with  the  enemy's  guns  posted  near  the  church  and  the  Tinsley  House. 

During  May  31  none  of  the  batteries  were  engaged.  Capt.  Cooper 
started  for  home  with  some  of  his  men  whose  terms  of  service  had  expired. 
There  were,  however,  enough  men  left  to  render  the  battery  effective,  and 
Lieut.  Miller  remained  in  command  of  it.  In  the  morning  of  June  1,  by 
orders  from  corps  headquarters,  Phillips,  Stewart  and  Richardson  were  as 
signed  to  the  First  Division.  The  left  of  the  corps  was  swinging  around 
across  the  Mechanicsville  Pike,  and  during  the  day  pushed  through  the 


Ox  THE  SKIRMISH  LIXE.  207 

woods  to  within  sight  of  the  enemy's  works,  at  short  musket  range.  While 
this  was  being  done,  Rittenhouse  was  posted  on  the  wood  road  to  the  left  of 
the  pike,  and  Sheldon  on  the  pike  itself.  The  first  was  able  to  hold  his  po 
sition  for  half  an  hour,  but  the  latter  only  a  few  minutes,  when  they  were 
overwhelmed  by  the  enemy's  fire  and  obliged  to  withdraw.  Both  suffered 
severely.  Capt.  Sheldon  received  a  very  severe  wound  in  the  face.  Just 
before  dark  ours  and  Richardson's  Batteries  were  advanced  on  the  skirmish 
line  in  front  of  Bartlett's  Brigade.  On  reaching  the  line  of  battle  we  found 
that  our  infantry  skirmishers  had  fallen  back  from  the  position  we  were  to 
occupy,  and  that  Bartlett's  Brigade  was  hotly  engaged.  The  batteries  were 
subsequently  withdrawn  during  the  night,  our  line  having  been  advanced 
up  the  wood  road  spoken  of  to  the  edge  of  the  woods.  Rittenhouse 's  and 
Barnes's  Batteries  were  placed  in  position  there,  on  the  left  of  the  wood  road, 
Walcott's  and  Hart's  on  the  right.  Early  June  2  the  position  held  by  the 
four  batteries  last  mentioned  was  found  exposed  to  the  fire  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  enemy's  lines,  at  ranges  of  from  800  to  1, 500  yards.  They  also  obtained 
an  ugly  cross  fire  on  them  from,  a  detached  work  opposite  the  extreme  left 
of  the  corps,  and  the  Rebel  sharpshooters  were  within  200  yards.  About 
10  a.  m.  Crawford's  Division  was  extended  to  the  left ;  Miller's  (Cooper's), 
Sheldon's,  Breck's  and  Bigelow's  Batteries  were  moved  with  it  and  posted, 
the  first  two  to  the  front  and  left  of  the  Jenkins  House,  Breck's  half  a  mile 
to  our  left,  filling  the  gap  of  500  yards  between  our  left  and  Birney's  Divis 
ion,  of  the  Second  Corps.  Bigelow's  Battery,  after  considerable  labor,  was 
got  into  an  excellent  position  about  half  way  between  Barnes  and  Miller, 
where  they  obtained  an  excellent  fire  on  the  enemy's  detached  work,  forc 
ing  them  to  withdraw  their  guns,  as  also  an  enfilading  fire  upon  their  skir 
mish  line  in  the  woods  in  front  of  the  Third  Division. 

During  the  afternoon  of  the  2d  of  June,  the  Ninth  Corps  having  moved 
around  by  our  rear  toward  the  left  of  the  line,  our  corps  was  drawn  in 
from  the  right,  Cutler's  and  Crawford's  Divisions  were  sent  down  to  hold 
the  line  toward  Beulah  Church,  and  five  or  six  of  the  batteries  went  with 
them,  as  above  described.  This  left  Griffin's  Division  holding  the  extreme 
right  of  our  army,  his  headquarters  being  at  Bethesda  Church.  He  massed 
his  three  infantry  brigades  about  the  church,  and  our  Battery  dismounted 
in  column  in  the  road  just  back  of  the  church,  where  there  was  shade,  the 
day  being  very  hot  and  sultry.  The  road  we  were  in  was  the  turnpike 
leading  to  the  Chickahominy  at  Mechanicsville.  North  of  this  road  was 
another,  called  the  Shady  Grove  Road,  running  nearly  parallel  to  it,  the 
distance  between  the  two  at  this  point  being  about  a  mile.  The  country 
between  was  mostly  ' '  old  field, ' '  with  a  straggling  grove  about  three-fourths 
of  a  mile  west  of  the  church,  and  somewhat  cut  up  with  small  ravines 
formed  by  the  heads  of  a  creek  that  flowed  toward  Mechanicsville,  holding 
its  course  all  the  way  between  the  two  roads.  The  ground  was  dry  and 
dusty,  so  that  movements  of  large  bodies  of  troops  would  be  indicated  at 
some  distance  by  clouds  of  dust. 

About  the  time  that  Griffin  had  completed  the  massing  of  his  division, 


208 


THE  CANNONEER. 


as  above  described,  which  may  have  been  between  3  and  4  o'clock,  clouds 
of  dust  rising  from  the  Shady  Grove  Eoad  on  the  north  indicated  a  move 
ment  of  the  enemy  to  get  on  our  right  flank.  The  indications  of  this 
movement  rapidly  extended  to  the  Mechanicsville  Road,  and  Gen.  Griffin, 
seeing  that  a  heavy  attack  was  imminent,  deployed  his  three  brigades — 
Sweitzer  on  the  right,  facing  the  Shady  Grove  Road  ;  Bartlett  in  the  center, 
and  Ayres  on  the  left,  crossing  the  Mechanicsville  Pike  and  facing  west  or 
southwest.  In  that  shape  Bartlett  advanced,  throwing  out  skirmishers, 
who  soon  became  closely  engaged.  While  this  was  going  on  the  Battery 
remained  in  its  former  position  in  column,  standing  at  ease.  There  was  a 


DIAGRAM  OF  BETHESDA  CHURCH,  JUNE  2, 
road  connecting  the  two  before  mentioned,  which  branched  off  near  our 
position  and  ran  through  Sweitzer's  line,  so  that  we  were  ready  to  move 
out  either  on  the  main  pike  to  help  Bartlett  or  Ayres,  or  on  this  connecting 
road  to  help  Sweitzer,  as  occasion  might  require.  The  other  batteries  with 
Griffin's  Division — Phillips's  and  Richardson's — were  farther  to  the  right, 
and  at  that  moment  moving  to  the  front  with  Sweitzer's  line. 

Soon  after  the  skirmishing  began  the  enemy  developed  his  main  line 
in  the  grove  in  Bartlett' s  front,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Mechanicsville 


CHARGE  OF  THE  BATTERY.  209 

Road,  and  it  was  apparent  from  the  deployment  of  his  skirmishers  and 
their  audacity  that  they  were  backed  by  a  main  line  extending  over  behind 
the  crest  in  that  direction.  He  also  developed  in  front  of  Ayres  south 
of  the  Mechanicsville  Road,  but  did  not  display  so  much  vigor  there. 
In  a  few  minutes  a  cloud  of  dust  appeared  rising  just  beyond  the 
grove.  The  rapidity  of  its  movements,  as  well  as  its  volume,  betokened 
the  approach  of  a  battery  at  a  gallop  along  the  pike.  On  came  the  dust 
cloud,  and  the  next  moment  out  of  the  grove  and  into  the  clearing,  in  plain 
sight,  came  the  head  of  column  of  the  Rebel  battery,  which  formed  in  bat 
tery  by  piece  on  its  left  piece  in  beautiful  style,  unlimbering  and  opening 
on  Bartlett's  infantry  quicker  than  it  can  be  told.  In  our  front,  where  the 
Mechanicsville  Pike  entered  the  grove  or  woods,  west  of  the  Bethesda 
Church,  there  was  a  clearing  which  extended  some  distance  into  the  woods, 
forming  a  sort  of  pocket  or  recess.  This  clearing  may  have  been  10  or  15  acres 
in  extent,  and  was  of  a  triangular  shape,  so  that  it  was  commanded  by  the 
woods  on  both  flanks.  It  was  in  this  clearing,  about  at  the  base  of  the 
triangle,  that  the  enemy  came  in  battery.  Between  us  and  the  enemy 
there  was  a  stretch  of  low  ground,  somewhat  grown  up  with  small  brush, 
and  the  old  pike  was  graded  up  to  some  extent  through  this  low  ground. 
For  this  reason  there  was  no  eligible  place  for  us  to  go  in  battery  anywThere 
in  this  low  ground,  but  Bartlett's  infantry  found  good  cover  there,  and  as 
soon  as  the  enemy  opened  with  his  canister  they  all  lay  down  and  began 
to  dig  with  their  tin  plates,  etc.  It  was  almost  incredible  how  quickly 
the  veteran  infantry  would  make  light  earthworks  in  soft  ground — at 
least  enough  to  cover  them  when  lying  down.  When  the  Rebel  battery 
came  into  position  we  were  "standing  at  ease"  in  column  just  back  of 
Bethesda  Church.  The  Battery  was  halted  in  column  of  pieces,  left  in 
front.  The  Old  Man  was  lounging  on  his  saddle,  near  the  right  gun,  with 
his  elbow  on  the  pommel  and  his  chin  resting  on  his  hand.  He  had  a 
group  of  15  or  20  of  the  boys  around  him,  and  was  evidently  telling  them 
some  of  his  droll  anecdotes  about  the  "Jackass  Cavalry"  in  Texas  before 
the  war  or  killing  Indians  and  capturing  squaws  in  Utah.  I  could  not 
hear  what  he  was  saying,  but  judged  that  he  was  in  one  of  his  funny  moods 
from  the  laughter  of  the  boys  around  him.  Suddenly  Gen.  Griffin  beckoned 
to  Stewart,  who  left  us  and  rode  over  toward  the  General.  But,  divining 
what  Griffin  wanted,  he  said,  as  he  wheeled  his  horse  round  :  "This  means 
us,  boys.  Drivers,  mount !  Cannoneers,  mount !  Attention  ! "  A  few  words 
passed  between  the  General  and  Stewart,  which  I  did  not  hear,  of  course, 
being  at  that  moment  in  the  act  of  mounting  the  limber-chest,  but  after 
ward  learned  that  Gen.  Griffin  said:  "James  (he  usually  called  Stewart 
by  his  first  name  id  that  way),  can  you  go  in  battery  under  that  fire?" 

"Yes,  sir;  where  shall  I  unlimber?  " 

"  Suit  yourself  about  that,  but  keep  an  eye  to  your  supports.  I  would 
like  to  see  that  battery  silenced." 

"I  will  shut  it  up,  sir." 

Now,  this  question  as  to  whether  we  should  unlimber  on  this  side  or 
14 


210  THE  CANNONEER. 

the  other  side  of  the  low  ground  spoken  of  was  a  very  important  one.  If 
we  unlimbered  on  this  side  (that  is,  the  side  near  the  church,)  we  would 
have  over  half  a  rnile  range,  and  would  have  to  fire  over  Bartlett's  head  — 
or,  rather,  over  his  men.  But  if  we  crossed  it,  we  would  have  to  go  in 
battery  within  a  few  hundred  feet — feet,  mind  you,  not  yards — from  the 
enemy's  muzzles,  and  that  was  right  on  Bartlett's  skirmish  line  ;  in  fact, 
a  little  beyond  it,  because  Bartlett's  skirmishers  were  taking  cover  of  the 
slight  bank  formed  by  the  descent  from  the  high  ground.  Having  his 
choice,  as  before  stated,  the  Old  Man  chose  the  close  quarters  !  Every  man 
and  boy  in  the  Battery  saw  instantly  that  this  was  the  finest  opportunity 
of  the  campaign  to  show  the  stuff  we  were  made  of.  There  was,  as  re 
marked  in  a  former  chapter  of  this  sketch,  a  strong  feeling  of  rivalry  be 
tween  our  Battery  and  Rittenhouse's,  which  was  Griffin's  old  battery,  and 
Griffin  had  an  enormous  amount  of  conceit  about  his  old  battery.  So  we 
all  had  the  same  thought  that  this  would  be  a  fine  opportunity  to  take  that 
conceit  out  of  Gen.  Griffin,  and  to  show  him  what  "Gibbon's old  battery  " 
could  do. 

Turning  from  Gen.  Griffin ,  Stewart  whipped  out  his  saber  and  spurred 
to  the  front  of  the  Battery  column,  executing  a  "right  moulinet"  as  he  did 
so.  "Attention — forward,  march  !  Trot!!  —  Gallop!!!"  And  then,  as 
the  huge  wheels  began  to  thunder  behind  him  and  the  tramp  of  the  power 
ful  horses  and  the  yells  of  the  drivers  and  cracking  of  the  whips  mingled 
with  the  "swish,  swish"  of  the  enemy's  canister  down  the  pike,  he  bent 
forward  over  his  horse's  neck,  and  spurring  him  to  a  run  roared  out  like  a 
lion :  ' '  Come  on,  boys !  Follow  me  ! ! — Charge  ! ! ! "  This  was  an  order  not 
included  in  the  "Light  Artillery  Manual,"  but  we  all  knew  what  it  meant. 
And  to  this  day  the  surviving  veterans  of  the  Fifth  Corps  will  tell  you 
about  the  "Charge  of  Stewart's  Battery  at  Bethesda  Church  !  " 

Old  infantry  veterans  who  were  out  in  the  fields  along  the  pike  that 
day,  have  described  the  appearance  of  the  Battery  as  it  came  down  the  road. 
The  Old  Man  was  about  five  or  six  yards  in  front,  bending  over  his  horse's 
neck  and  spurring  him  with  both  heels,  swinging  his  saber  and  shouting, 
" Come  on!"  Every  driver  lying  forward  on  his  horse,  whipping  and 
yelling  ;  every  Gunner  and  Cannoneer  hanging  on  for  life  to  the  guard-rods 
of  the  limber-chests,  and  bounding  six  inches  high  from  the  springless  seats 
as  the  huge  wheels  flew  over  the  ruts ;  a  long  trail  of  dust  streaming  behind, 
and  the  very  earth  made  to  smoke  and  tremble  under  the  fierce  tramp  of 
the  flying  steeds !  Speed  was  everything  here,  because  it  was  necessary  to 
get  there  quick  and  get  to  work  before  the  enemy  could  get  many  rounds 
into  us  ;  and,  besides,  as  it  was  a  very  desperate  enterprise,  it  was  best  to 
go  in  with  all  possible  "whoop  and  hurrah  ! " 

When  we  reached  the  ground  which  was  favorable  for  going  in  battery, 
Stewart  gave  rapid  orders  to  " trot "  and  "  walk, "  and  then  —  "Forward 
into  battery,"  etc.  Then,  depending  on  the  perfect  discipline  of  his  boys 
to  execute  general  orders  without  details,  it  was,  "Action  front  !  Right 
section  load  solid  shot  and  case  alternately.  No.  1,  left  section,  load  com- 


CHARGE  OF  THE  BATTERY  AT  BETHESDA  CHURCH.  211 


212  THE  CANNONEER. 

nion  shell.  Cut  fuses  one  second  (so  they  would  burst  at  1,200  feet,  just 
before  reaching  the  enemy's  battery).  'Old  Bess'  (the  left  gun),  give  'em 
double  canister ! "  And  "fire  by  piece  ! "  And  "sock  it  to  'ein  ! "  All  in  a 
perfect  torrent  of  roars  ! 

From  that  time  on  it  was  "Keep  that  muzzle  down!"  "Steady, 
there  ! "  "  That's  right ! "  "  Keep  her  there  ! ' '  and  similar  directions. 
Meantime  every  one  of  the  boys  who  survived  was  working  for  the  great 
day. 

Did  you  ever  hear  the  thump  of  a  rammer  on  a  shot  or  canister-head 
when  No.  1  was  ' '  sending  home ' '  while  you  were  getting  ready  to  prick 
cartridge  and  hook  on  the  lanyard  ?  And  did  you  ever  hear  that  sound 
mingled  with  the  close  thunder  of  the  enemy's  guns  and  the  "skitter  and 
kerchug!"  of  his  canister  splintering  your  gun-carriages  or  plowing  the 
ground  about  your  feet,  to  say  nothing  of  its  whiz  and  whirr  in  the  air 
about  your  ears,  or  the  occasional  savage  "plunk"  of  one  that  happened  to 
find  a  poor  comrade's  bosom  in  its  fierce  track?  If  you  have,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  describe  the  scene  while  wTe  were  getting  in  that  first  load. 
If  you  have  not,  why  then  description  would  be  wasted.  If  there  was  ever 
a  forlorn  hope  of  artillerymen  in  battle,  it  was  the  old  Battery  while  that 
first  load  was  being  "sent  home."  But  beyond  hard  breathing  through 
set  teeth,  lips  compressed,  nostrils  dilated,  and  eyes  hard-tempered  in  the 
heat  of  battle,  you  could  see  no  change  in  the  expressions  of  the  boys. 
Almost  Avithout  exception  the  men  who  took  the  Battery  into  action 
there  were  veterans  of  from  18  to  20  battles,  and  they  could  literally  han 
dle  12-pounder  Napoleons  like  horse-pistols !  Of  course,  at  that  time,  when 
the  personnel  of  the  Battery  had  been  winnowed  and  winnowed  in  battle 
after  battle,  or  tried  in  the  test  of  hungry  marches  and  muddy  bivouacks 
until  every  man  that  survived  and  stood  by  was  as  tough  as  the  brass  guns 
that  they  served  ;  or  when  by  the  frightful  fatigues,  sufferings  and  priva 
tions  of  that  Wilderness  and  Spottsylvania  campaign,  which  Stewart  had 
shared  with  us  shoulder  to  shoulder,  we  had  been  drawn  so  near  to  the 
Old  Man  that  he  had  become  not  only  our  commander  but  our  comrade, 
every  one  of  whom  would  have  followed  him  right  into  an  open  grave  if  he 
had  called  to  us  to  "Come  on,  boys  !  " 

The  Rebel  battery,  which  had  slackened  a  little  when  Bartlett's  infan 
try  lay  down,  reopened  furiously  on  us  as  wre  came  along  the  road,  firing 
both  case  and  canister;  but  their  practice  was  not  good,  and  they  did  not 
hit  either  man  or  horse  until  we  halted  and  began  to  unlimber.  As  we 
unlimbered  wTe  could  see  our  infantry  poking  their  heads  up  out  of  the 
grass  and  weeds  to  look  at  us,  and  they  encouraged  us  with  loud  yells  and 
cheers ;  while  our  skirmishers,  lying  down  in  the  field  on  our  flanks,  kept 
up  a  crackling  fire  at  the  enemy's  battery,  as  the  enemy's  infantry  in  the 
edge  of  the  woods  also  did  at  us.  Under  such  circumstances  we  unlim 
bered,  loaded,  and  the  concert  began  ;  and  you  can  bet  that  from  that  mo 
ment  the  music  was  by  the  full  band.  We  had  13  or  14  men  hit  altogether 
in  this  affair,  of  whom  10  or  11  went  down  in  the  single  minute  that  it 


"SET 'EM  UP  AGAIN."  213 

took  us  to  unlimber  and  get  in  the  first  load.  After  that  our  Confederate 
friends  had  something  to  engage  their  attention  beside  their  own  practice. 
The  two  batteries  were  not  more  than  1,200  feet  apart,  both  in  the  open, 
without  the  slightest  cover,  and  the  only  advantage  we  had  was  that  the 
Eebels  were  on  slightly  rising  ground,  which,  of  course,  was  an  advantage 
in  practice  at  that  range,  as  point-blank  artillery  practice  is  always  best 
from  "the  lower  hillside."  But  this  trifling  advantage  was  of  no  account 
until  we  could  get  in  position  and  unlimber  and  get  in  one  load.  In  these 
piping  times  of  peace  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  a  description  of  what 
it  means  to  jump  a  battery  into  position  within  point-blank  canister  range 
of  another  battery  already  firing,  and  that,  too,  on  a  broad  turnpike  road 
running  through  open  fields,  without  a  particle  of  cover  for  at  least  half  a 
mile.  The  Rebel  battery  in  this  instance  was  gallantly  served,  and  they 
got  one  regular  blizzard  into  us,  but  it  was  their  last  chance. 

The  day  being  hot  and  sultry,  with  no  air  stirring,  the  smoke  hung 
right  in  front  of  us,  so  that  after  the  second  or  third  round  we  could  not 
see  the  enemy  at  all,  but  we  could  hear  his  canister  rattling  among  our 
guns  and  wheels  like  big  hail-stones,  or  whizzing  past  our  heads,  or  whir 
ring  through  the  grass  and  bushes.  But  we  had  the  exact  direction  by  the 
well-defined  tracks  of  the  wheels  in  the  first  recoil,  so  there  was  no  diffi 
culty  in  pointing,  and  all  we  had  to  do  was  "keep  her  muzzle  down." 
In  three  minutes  we  could  feel  the  enemy's  fire  slacken.  In  seven  or  eight 
minutes  more  he  ceased  entirely,  and  then,  as  the  smoke  lifted,  wre  saw 
his  deserted  guns  standing  silent  in  the  field !  Ordinarily  Stewart  was 
more  calm  and  precise  in  the  most  desperate  fighting  than  at  any  other 
time,  but  on  this  occasion,  as  we  gave  a  cheer,  he  joined  in  with  us.  His 
face  was  as  black  as  any  of  his  Cannoneers  with  burnt  powder,  and  as  the 
day  was  very  hot  and  sultry  and  he  was  quite  fleshy,  the  lively  work  he 
had  been  doing  made  the  sweat  pour  down  his  cheeks  in  comical  streaks 
among  the  powder  stains.  At  this  moment  one  of  the  men  in  the  rignt 
section — probably  Torn  Clarke  or  Bill  Bartholomew  —  shook  his  fist  at 

the  enemy  and  shouted,  "All  down  !    Set  'em- up  again, you  !" 

This  raised  a  laugh  and  another  cheer,  and  the  Captain  said  something  to 
this  Cannoneer,  to  the  effect  that  he  was  very  hard  to  satisfy,  and  asked 
him  about  how  many  batteries  he  would  like  to  clean  out  in  one  afternoon  ! 
He  also  declared,  with  somewhat  profane  emphasis,  that  there  was  not 
another  four-gun  battery  in  any  army  on  Christ's  green  earth  that  could 
stand  before  his  boys  10  minutes  in  the  open  field  at  canister  range  ! 

We  all  regarded  this  as  one  of  the  most  noteworthy  in  the  long  list  of 
the  achievements  of  Stewart's  Battery.  It  had  become  a  common  thing 
with  us  to  fight  charging  infantry  with  double  canister  at  ranges  so  close 
that  we  could  almost  "smell  their  breath,"  and  we  had  frequent  contests 
with  the  enemy's  artillery  at  fair  ranges,  in  which  we  had  often  silenced 
him  or  driven  him  out  of  position,  dismounting  some  of  his  guns  or  blow 
ing  up  some  of  his  caissons.  But  this  affair  on  the  Mechanicsville  Road 
was  unique  in  its  way.  It  was  a  fair,  square  duel  between  two  batteries  of 


21V4  THE  CANNONEER. 

four  guns  each  —  12-pounder  Napoleons  on  each  side — so  close  together 
that  they  might  as  well  have  been  "muzzle  to  muzzle,"  and  without  the 
least  cover  for  either  side.  The  only  question  was  rapidity  and  precision 
of  fire.  The  Battery  fired  everything  that  would  tell  —  shell,  case  and 
canister ;  shell  and  case  with  fuses  cut  ' '  point  blank ' '  to  burst  at  1, 200  feet 
from  three  of  the  guns,  and  canister,  doubled  all  the  time,  from  the  other 
one.  The  result  was,  doubtless,  the  most  perfect  tornado  of  iron  ever  de 
livered  from  a  four-gun  battery.  When  the  enemy  deserted  his  guns  and 
left  them  standing  silent  in  the  field  near  the  pike,  and  his  infantry  recoiled 
into  the  woods,  it  appeared  that  we  had  practically  captured  a  battery 
from  the  enemy  !  About  this  time  Gens.  Griffin,  Bartlett  and  Ayres  came 
up  into  the  road  where  we  were,  and  Griffin  suggested  that  as  we  had 
silenced  the  enemy's  battery,  and  it  was  too  late  to  make  an  infantry  ad 
vance,  we  might  as  well  limber  up  and  go  back  to  the  church. 

Stewart  asked  Gen.  Griffin  if  he  was  not  going  to  advance  his  infantry 
to  take  in  the  enemy's  deserted  guns.  He  said  no,  because  that  would  in 
volve  too  close  an  approach  to  the  enemy's  cover  in  the  woods,  which  they 
were  clearly  holding  in  force.  Then  the  Old  Man  said,  ' '  if  you  will  ad 
vance  your  skirmish  line  to  cover  me,  by 1  will  take  some  of  my  teams 

and  haul  them  in  myself  with  my  men  ! " 

Stewart  was  very  anxious  to  get  those  guns.  Of  course  it  would  have 
been  a  very  desperate  thing  to  go  out  there  and  haul  them  in,  covered  as 
they  were  by  all  of  Eodes's  infantry  in  the  edge  of  the  woods  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Mechanicsville  Pike,  but  he  would  have  done  it  if  he  could  have 
got  the  necessary  support.  We  had  destroyed  nearly  every  man  and  horse 
they  had.  They  were  waiting  for  darkness,  so  as  to  haul  their  dismantled 
guns  off  by  hand.  We  had  lost  only  14  men  and  not  more  than  a  dozen 
horses.  We  felt  that  we  had  really  captured  their  battery,  because  we  had 
destroyed  every  living  thing  in  it,  and  had  made  it  impossible  for  anyone  to 
approach  the  deserted  guns.  But  we  could  not  go  out  and  hook  on  to  the 
guns  and  fetch  them  in  without  the  support  of  a  general  advance  of  our 
infantry.  This  Gen.  Griffin  would  not  undertake ;  so,  after  dark,  they 
hauled  their  dismantled  guns  off  by  hand.  No  doubt  Griffin  was  right.  He 
always  was.  It  would  have  cost  some  lives  to  go  out  and  get  the  Rebel 
guns  which  we  had  dismantled,  but  there  was  not  a  man  in  the  Battery 
who  would  not  have  jumped  at  the  chance  to  volunteer  with  the  teams  to 
go  and  fetch  them  in.  As  it  was,  whenever  the  enemy's  infantry  showed 
up  in  the  edge  of  the  woods  from  that  time  till  pitch  dark,  we  soon  sent 
them  to  the  right  about  with  a  few  rounds  of  case  and  canister.  They  kept 
sharpshooting  at  us  till  dark,  but  did  not  hit  anybody.  Finally,  when  Gen. 
Griffin  decided  to  draw  in  his  picket  line  about  9  o'clock,  we  limbered  up 
and  went  back  to  the  field  in  front  of  Bethesda  Church,  where  we  bivouacked 
for  the  night. 

Stewart  was  the  only  commissioned  officer  of  the  Battery  present  in 
this  affair ;  as,  in  fact,  he  had  been  ever  since  May  8.  Ord.  Serg't  McBride 
was  commanding  the  right  section,  Serg't  Thorpe  the  left,  and  Q.  M.  Serg't 


THE 


RESULT. 


215 


I 
I 


216  THE  CANNONEER. 

Henry  Moore  the  caissons.  With  such  Sergeants  we  did  not  need  any 
Lieutenants. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  behavior  of  our  No.  1  in  this  action.  It  was 
old  Griff  Wallace,  of  the  7th  Wisconsin.  He  was  certainly  an  artist  at 
the  muzzle  of  a  gun.  On  this  occasion  he  didn't  pretend  to  sponge,  except 
at  about  every  fifth  load.  Meantime  the  hot  vent  was  burning  my  thumb- 
stall  to  a  crisp  and  scorching  my  thumb,  so  I  would  call  out : 

"For 's  sake,  Griff,  sponge  the  gun  !  " 

And  he  would  answer : 

' '  Sponge, ! "  "  Stick  to  the  vent,  you  little ! ! " 

"Stick!!!" 

Ordinarily  I  would  have  resented  that  epithet,  but  did  not  feel  called 
upon  to  do  so  then.  Toward  the  last  it  was  really  painful.  As  the  leather 
kepi  burning  through  I  would  pull  the  thumb-stall  down  until  no  more 
of  it  was  left,  and  then  I  appealed  to  Griff  that  the  vent  was  burning 
iny  flesh.  All  the  satisfaction  I  got  was  a  fierce  growl  between  his  Irish 
teeth : 

"Thumb  it  with  the  bone,  then, you  ! ! " 

I  can  see  that  Irish  hero  now,  his  curly  hair  loose  on  his  bare  head, 
his  arms  bare  to  the  elbows,  as  he  had  thrown  away  cap  and  jacket  and 
rolled  up  his  shirt  sleeves  when  we  unlimbered.  After  it  was  all  over,  and 
we  were  sipping  our  coffee  under  the  shadow  of  Griffin's  headquarters  at 
the  little  church  that  evening,  I  said  : 

"Griff,  suppose  I  had  let  go  of  that  hot  vent  when  you  wouldn't 
sponge,  and  there  had  been  a  premature  discharge  in  consequence?" 

"  Well,"  he  says,  "Cub,  I  had  thought  of  that,  and  had  made  up  my 
mind  to  brain  you  at  once  with  the  rammer-head  if  that  occurred  ! ' ' 

How  deliciously  Irish  that  was !  The  joke  of  this  wrill  instantly  be 
understood  by  any  artilleryman.  If  I  had  ever  let  go  of  that  vent  there 
wouldn't  have  been  enough  left  of  Pat  and  his  rammer  to  brain  a  flea 
with.  He  would  have  been  blown  from  the  muzzle. 

Every  one  seemed  to  feel  the  contagious  spirit  of  victory.  It  is  a  pity 
that  the  enemy  did  not  develop  another  battery  there,  if  for  no  other  pur 
pose  than  to  "set  'em  up  again  !  "  Everybody  was  ready  for  it.  When 
the  smoke  lifted  the  Eebel  battery  appeared  about  as  follows :  The  near 
wheel  of  their  right  gun  was  smashed,  and  that  gun  wTas  to  that  extent 
dismounted.  Their  No.  2  gun  of  the  right  section  was  turned  around  so 
that  it  was  almost  sideways  toward  us.  Their  No.  1  gun  of  the  left  section 
had  been  knocked  out  of  its  trunnion-caps,  so  that  it  appeared  to  be  stand 
ing  on  its  cascabel-knob  behind  its  carriage.  The  No.  2  gun  of  their  left 
section  was  apparently  intact,  but  it  was  some  distance  in  rear  of  the 
others,  indicating  either  that  an  effort  had  been  made  to  haul  it  off  by 
hand,  or  else  that  they  had  let  it  continue  to  go  back  with  each  recoil  in 
stead  of  running  it  up  into  position  after  the  discharges.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  the  Eebel  guns  were  all  there,  and  nobody  was  there  with  them,  ex 
cept  those  who  were  stretched  out  on  the  ground.  But  we  were  ready  for 


A  WORD  FOR  JOHNNY  COOK.  217 

another  one  of  the  same  sort,  which,  beyond  doubt,  would  have  shared  the 
fate  of  the  first. 

There  was  no  further  serious  attack  on  that  position,  but  on  our  right, 
north  of  the  road,  the  enemy  developed  a  strong  force  of  infantry  late  in 
the  afternoon.  These  were  repulsed  by  Bartlett's  Brigade  after  a  sharp 
brush,  in  which  the  Battery,  or  the  right  section,  fired  several  rounds,  the 
other  section  watching  the  enemy's  dismantled  battery.  This  concluding 
part  of  the  action  was  fought  mainly  by  Bartlett's  Brigade  against  Rodes's 
Division,  and  as  neither  side  had  any  cover  it  was  one  of  the  prettiest  little 
fights  of  that  campaign.  It  showed  that,  however  well  the  Johnnies  could 
fight  in  dense  brush,  as  in  the  Wilderness,  or  behind  heavy  works,  as  at 
Spottsylvania,  they  could  not  stomach  the  lead  and  cold  steel  of  that  vet 
eran  brigade  in  the  open.  They  were  routed  in  great  confusion  and  driven 
back  to  the  Shady  Grove  Eoad,  about  a  mile,  losing  several  hundred  men, 
among  whom  was  Brig. -Gen.  Doles,  of  Rodes's  Division,  killed.  This  put 
an  end  to  the  attempt  to  turn  our  right  flank  on  the  2d  of  June. 

Here  it  becomes  my  pleasant  task  to  make  particular  mention  of  little 
Johnny  Cook,  our  Bugler.  This  was  his  last  battle  with  the  old  Battery. 
It  was  at  least  his  twentieth  battle,  and  he  was  only  16  or  17  years  old. 
Literally,  Johnny  "had  more  battles  than  his  years. "  His  time  was  out, 
he  had  his  honorable  discharge  in  his  pocket,  and  was  only  awaiting  trans 
portation  to  go  home  ;  but  his  bugle  never  sounded  so  loud  and  clear  as  it 
did  when  he  followed  the  old  Captain  and  blew  ' '  forward,  trot, ' '  and  ' '  for 
ward,  gallop  ! "  as  our  gallant  horses  stretched  their  necks  out  for  that  Rebel 
battery  on  the  pike  !  The  Captain  did  not  want  Johnny  to  go  into  action 
that  day.  Maybe  he  had  a  superstition  that  a  man  —  or  boy  —  who  went 
into  a  fight  after  his  time  was  out  would  be  killed.  But  Johnny  had  got 
that  old  scent  of  powder  up  his  nose  once  more,  and  nothing  could  stop  him  ! 
So  away  he  went,  following  the  Old  Man  along  the  pike,  and  blowing  his 
bugle  as  lustily  as  ever,  while  the  enemy's  canister  cut  down  the  brush  by 
the  side  of  the  road  or  screamed  over  our  heads.  He  rode  a  white  bob- 
tailed  pony,  which  we  always  hated  to  see  in  line  of  battle,  because  she 
made  a  center  target  for  the  enemy's  shells.  Sometimes  Stewart  would 
send  him  to  the  rear,  in  order  to  get  that  pony  out  of  sight  of  the  enemy. 

"Get  that ghost  out  of  sight,"  the  Captain  would  yell  sometimes, 

when  the  enemy  would  begin  to  reach  for  little  John  and  his  white  pony 
with  their  shells  !  But  on  this  occasion  "everything  went, "  as  you  would 
say,  "  and  the  devil  take  the  hindmost."  It  was  simply  a  case  of  "do  or 
die, "  and  one  white  horse  more  or  less  made  no  difference.  We  either  had 
to  wipe  out  that  Rebel  battery  in  10  minutes  or  bleach  our  Ixraes  in  that 
u  old  field  "  on  the  Mechanicsville  Pike.  There  were  about  65  or  70  men 
with  the  Battery  in  this  action,  out  of  about  114  or  116  men  who  had  crossed 
the  Rapidan  in  its  ranks  30  days  before  ! 

As  the  Battery  was  then  reporting  directly  to  Gen.  Griffin,  who  acted 
as  his  own  "  Chief  of  Division  Artillery,"  and  put  the  Battery  into  action 
himself,  the  report  of  the  action  was  to  be  made  to  him.  So,  when  he  rode 


218  THE  CANNONEER. 

into  the  Battery,  he  told  Stewart  that  he  wanted  him  to  make  a  full  report 
of  that  action,  and  to  mention  all  the  men  who  had  distinguished  themselves. 
Whereupon  the  Old  Man  replied :  "In  that  case,  General,  I  will  simply 
have  to  append  to  my  report  the  present  for  duty  roll  of  the  Battery,  sir ! " 

After  it  was  all  over  Gens.  Griffin,  Bartlett  and  Ayres  came  into  the 
Battery  and  showered  congratulations  and  compliments  on  Stewart  and  on 
the  men  individually.  Griffin  and  Ayres,  being  veteran  Regular  artillery 
men,  were  particularly  enthusiastic. 

Gen.  Griffin,  noticing  a  piece  of  courtplaster  on  my  eyebrow,  and  that 
the  middle  finger  on  my  left  hand  was  done  up  in  a  rag  (this  was  from 
my  fight  with  Paddy  Hart's  man  two  or  three  nights  before,  as  already 
stated),  said:  "I  see  you  have  been  hit. "  I  replied:  "  Oh,  sir,  that  was 
in  a,  previous  engagement ! "  This  made  the  boys  laugh,  but  the  General 
thought  it  was  all  right,  and  I  did  not  take  the  pains  to  tell  him  what  kind 
of  an  "engagement "  it  was.  Gen.  Ayres  also  made  a  little  speech  to  us, 
which  was  very  unusual  for  him.  He  said  that ' '  if  that  work  had  been  done 
by  a  British  battery  the  Queen  would  have  a  special  medal  struck  to  com 
memorate  it  and  every  man  in  the  Battery  would  receive  one." 

Gen.  Bartlett  said  :  "  Boys,  I  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  artillery  prac 
tice,  but  I  never  saw  one  battery  chaw  up  another  as  you  did  that  battery 
this  afternoon  ! " 

June  3  all  the  batteries  were  in  position  and  more  or  less  engaged.  Gen. 
Warren  having  decided  to  assume  the  offensive  against  the  enemy's  left 
wing  and  to  clear  the  Mechanicsville  Pike,  Griffin  and  Cutler  advanced 
their  infantry,  and  Phillips's,  Richardson's,  Stewart's  and  Mink's,  parallel 
to  and  north  of  the  Mechanicsville  Road,  were  pushed  forward  by  batteries 
with  the  line  of  battle.  The  ground  was  gained  under  a  galling  fire  of  artil 
lery  and  musketry  at  considerable  loss,  the  enemy's  batteries  being  securely 
posted  under  cover.  They  were,  however,  at  last  driven  out  and  their 
position  occupied  by  our  skirmishers.  During  this  time  they  also  charged 
down  the  Mechanicsville  Road  and  through  the  woods  to  drive  its  north 
side,  but  were  repulsed  by  Ayres's  Brigade  with  the  aid  of  Hart's  and  Rit- 
tenhouse's  Batteries.  The  former  looked  directly  up  the  road,  and  the 
enemy  reached  within  short  canister  range  of  the  batteries  before  they  were 
checked.  Barnes's  and  Walcott's  Batteries  had  been  brought  back  from 
the  left,  as  well  as  Mink's,  and  were  posted  in  their  old  position  on  either 
side  of  the  wood  road.  Together  with  the  batteries  on  the  left  they  were 
frequently  engaged  with  the  enemy's  artillery  during  the  day.  After 
we  had  wiped  out  the  Rebel  artillery  and  our  infantry  had  driven  the 
enemy's  infantry  back  to  the  Shady  Grove  Road  we  all  bivouacked  in  the 
position.  About  sundown  copious  showers  came  up,  accompanied  with 
heavy  thunder  and  sharp  lightning.  This  rain  was  most  welcome,  because 
it  cooled  the  air,  laid  the  dust  and  filled  the  hollows  with  pure  water, 
which  we  had  sadly  lacked  for  several  days.  It  wet  us  all  to  the  skin,  but 
we  did  not  care  about  that ;  in  fact,  we  enjoyed  it  as  the  first  "bath  "  we 
had  had  for  a  fortnight.  Griffin's  Division  held  its  ground  that  night  and 


THE  COLD  HARBOR  ASSAULT.  219 

the  next  day  (Jane  4)  until  afternoon,  when,  hearing  of  the  great  repulse- 
of  the  Second,  Sixth  and  Eighteenth  Corps  down  to  the  left,  we  withdrew  to 
the  works  about  the  church. 

It  has  been  stated  by  high  military  authority  that  the  tactics  of  the 
assaults  of  June  3  on  the  Second,  Sixth  and  Eighteenth  Corps  fronts  were 
not  well  advised.  The  order  was  to  "attack  all  along  the  line."  It  was 
delivered  to  three  different  corps  commanders;  first,  to  "attack  in  con 
cert,"  and,  when  they  had  failed  to  do  that,  they  were  directed  to  "attack 
without  reference  to  each  other's  movements."  If  this  is  true  it  was  not 
good  tactics  in  the  most  primitive  sense  of  the  term.  Even  as  a  private 
soldier  I  had  learned  enough  of  the  art  of  war  to  know  that  true  tactical 
skill  consists  in  the  ability  to  discern  the  weakest  point  in  a  long  intrenched 
line,  to  assail  it  with  resistless  vigor,  force  it  at  that  point,  and  then  by 
promptly  supporting  the  attacking  column  on  either  or  both  flanks  take 
advantage  of  the  confusion  of  the  enemy  at  the  vortex  of  the  disaster. 
Grant  did  not  take  this  course.  He  caused  his  corps  commanders  to  de 
liver  what  might  be  called  disconnected,  or  at  least  unconcerted,  assaults 
along  a  line  not  less  than  three  miles  in  length.  If  his  purpose  was  to 
prevent  the  enemy  from  reinforcing  any  one  critical  point  by  making  all 
points  critical,  he  did  not  succeed ;  because  it  is  now  well  known  that 
Lee,  in  the  very  hight  of  the  assault,  deliberately  disgarnished  the  front 
which  the  Eighteenth  Corps  was  attacking  to  reinforce  the  front  charged 
by  the  Second  and  Sixth  Corps.  It  cannot  be  said  that  these  assaults  were 
feebly  delivered,  because  the  number  of  wounded  men  who  fell  so  close  up 
to  the  enemy's  works  that  they  had  to  be  left  there  to  perish  during  the 
next  three  days  gives  a  pathetic  lie  to  any  such  statement  as  that.  Nothing 
in  the  annals  of  war  can  surpass  the  heroic  devotion  with  which  the  Sec 
ond,  Sixth  and  Eighteenth  Corps  assailed  the  works  in  their  fronts  the  3d 
of  June,  1864. 

It  is  true  that  our  own  corps,  the  Fifth,  took  no  part  in  these  bloody 
and  futile  assaults.  Our  work  was  of  a  more  agreeable  character — holding 
the  right  of  the  army  in  the  open  at  and  about  Bethesda  Church,  and  from 
there  down  among  the  swamps  toward  Beulah  Church — so  that  the  only 
considerable  part  we  took  in  the  operations  was  the  summary  manner  in 
which  we  wound  up  Early's  various  efforts  to  turn  our  right  flank. 

Suppose  that  Grant,  instead  of  delivering  those  assaults  "all  along 
the  line ' '  to  the  southward  of  Beulah  Church,  had  deployed  the  Eighteenth 
Corps  down  there  and  pushed  it  up  as  close  to  their  works  as  possible, 
without  assaulting,  as  a  demonstration  in  force,  supporting  it  with  the 
Ninth  Corps,  which  was  totally  useless  as  it  was  handled.  And  then,  sup 
pose  he  had  massed  the  Second,  Fifth  and  Sixth  Corps  at  and  about  Be 
thesda  Church,  and  made  a  break  with  them  along  the  Mechanicsville 
Pike,  covering  the  Shady  Grove  Road  on  our  extreme  right  with  the 
cavalry.  By  this  movement  he  might  possibly  have  crushed  the  left  flank 
of  Lee's  army  by  an  overwhelming  attack  and  forced  him  into  the 
"pocket"  formed  by  the  Chickahorniny,  which  was  unfordable  in  his  rear 


220 


THE  CANNONEER. 


for  more  than  half  the  length  of  his  line,  or  at  any  point  below  the  bridge 
on  the  road  leading  from  Games' s  Mill  to  Eichmond.  The  line  of  the  Me- 
ehanicsville  Pike  was  largely  in  open  field,  where  our  numerical  prepon 
derance  and  the  superiority  of  our  artillery  must  have  told  with  fatal  power. 
The  ease  with  which  we  (the  Fifth  Corps)  shattered  Early's  attempt  to 
turn  the  right  flank,  and  the  impunity  with  which  Bartlett  followed  Eodes 
•right  up  to  his  intrenchments  after  he  recoiled,  indicates  what  might  have 
•been  accomplished  by  a  massive  attack  on  that  part  of  the  line  the  next 
morning  by  the  combined  strength  of  the  Second,  Fifth  and  Sixth  Corps, 
aided  by  a  strong  demonstration  of  the  Ninth  and  Eighteenth  Corps  on  onr 
left  below  Beulah  Church. 

No  movement  of  any  account  was  made  during  the  4th  on  either  side. 
The  dead  remained  unburied  on  the  ground  fought  over  during  June  1,  2 
and  3,  and  as  this  ground  was  now  between  the  two  lines  many  of  the 
wounded  remained  where  they  fell,  and  no  relief  could  reach  them.  This 
"was  not  true  of  the  Fifth  Corps  so  much  as  it  was  of  the  Second,  Sixth  and 
Eighteenth,  to  our  left.  Our  fighting  had  been  more  in  the  open,  and  we 
had  more  chance  to  remove  our  wounded. 

But  the  other  three  corps  which  had  assaulted  the  trenches  and  had 
been  bloodily  repulsed  had  to  leave  their  wounded  where  they  fell.  Those 
who  lay  nearest  our  works 
were  dragged  in  at  night  by 
their  comrades,  but  every  ef 
fort  to  get  them  in  by  day 
light  was  fiercely  repelled  by 
the  musketry  of  the  enemy  in 
liis  works.  Several  men  of 
'the  Second  and  Sixth  Corps 
were  shot  while  they  were  en 
gaged  in  this  humane  work, 

and  this  caused  a  more  bitter 

feeling  to  ward  the  Rebels  than 
-all  the  fighting. 

Gen.  Lee  had  always  been 
•regarded  by  our  troops  as  a 

humane  man,  or  at  least  not 

inhuman,  and  we  marveled 

that  he    should    permit  his 

troops  to  fire  on  our  stretcher 

'bearers,  when  the  object  of 

their  mission  was  so  plainly 

apparent.     We  preferred  to  believe  that  Gen.  Lee  did  not  know  it.     The 

weather  was  frightfully  hot,  and  excepting  thunder  showers  the  night  of 

June  3  there  was  no  rain  for  30  days.     Three  days  after  the  battle  there 

was  a  truce  to  collect  the  wounded  men  and  bury  the  dead,  but  it  came  too 

late.     For  the  killed,  of  course,  it  made  no  difference  ;  but  at  least  1,000 


A  KIND  OF  MURDER. 


LOSING  THE  VETERANS.  221 

wounded  of  the  three  corps  who  had  been  left  close  up  to  the  Rebel  trenches 
perished  wretchedly  during  those  three  days.  Ex-Confederates  have  told 
me  since  the  war  that  they  could  see  the  poor  wretches  moving  feebly  and 
trying  to  crawl  toward  their  (the  Rebel)  trenches  for  succor,  and  they  went 
out  themselves  as  far  as  they  dared  go  and  brought  in  many  of  those  nearest 
their  works ;  but  they  did  not  dare  go  far,  and  so  those  who  lay  midway 
between  the  lines  could  get  no  help  from  either  side.  However,  the  Fifth 
Corps  saw  little  or  nothing  of  these  horrors,  and  knew  of  them,  only  by  hear 
say,  as  we  were  withdrawn  from  Bethesda  Church  on  the  night  of  June  5 
or  6  and  moved  round  to  the  left  by  roads  in  rear  of  the  other  corps.  We 
arrived  at  Dispatch  Station,  where  the  York  Railroad  crosses  the  Chicka- 
hominy,  on  the  7th,  and  remained  there  until  the  12th. 

Our  losses  in  these  actions  were  four  killed  or  mortally  wounded  and 
10  wounded,  but  it  was  a  miracle  that  any  escaped.  Nearly  all  the  men  at 
the  guns  and  many  of  the  drivers  were  more  or  less  hit  or  scraped  by  canis 
ter  or  splinters.  The  carriages  were  also  splintered  up  a  good  deal,  but 
none  of  them  were  completely  disabled. 

After  the  war  a  gentleman  who  was  in  the  artillery  battalion  of  Rodes's 
Division,  under  Maj.  Hardaway,  told  me  that  they  had  eight  men  killed 
and  about  18  or  20  wounded,  and  lost  nearly  30  horses,  and  were  so  crip 
pled  that  they  could  not  have  hauled  their  guns  off  but  for  the  help  of  their 
infantry.  He  would  not  believe  that  it  was  our  four-gun  battery  alone 
that  did  the  business.  He  was  sure  we  must  have  had  at  least  eight  guns 
in  position.  One  reason  why  Stewart  displayed  such  unusual  feeling  in 
this  affair  was  because  the  terms  of  enlistment  of  many  of  his  best  men  would 
expire  in  a  few  weeks,  and  were  about  to  leave  him,  and  he  was  in  hopes 
they  would  re-enlist  up  to  the  last  moment.  He  hated  to  lose  these  men3 
and  did  everything  to  persuade  them  to  re-enlist.  They  did  not,  how 
ever,  not  because  they  disliked  him  or  the  service  of  the  Battery,  but 
simply  because  they  had  been  fighting  ever  since  Bull  Run,  and  thought 
they  had  done  their  share  ;  besides,  many  of  them  had  been  wounded  in 
previous  battles,  and  the  horrible  fatigues  and  privations  of  this  campaign 
had  made  their  old  wounds  troublesome.  This  was  really  the  Last  fight  in 
which  all  the  "  Old,  Old  Veterans  "  took  part.  Their  terms  of  enlistment 
expired  rapidly  during  the  next  few  weeks.  We  all  hated  to  see  them  go, 
but  could  not  blame  them.  They  had  enlisted  in  the  Spring  of  1861,  and 
had  been  in  every  battle  of  the  army  up  to  June,  1864.  Out  of  all  those 
originally  detached  out  of  the  Iron  Brigade  and  Patrick's  Brigade  there 
were  not  more  than  45  or  50  left  now,  and  no  one  could  say  that  they  had  not 
done  their  whole  duty  ;  scarcely  one  of  them  had  had  a  furlough  or  hardly 
a  pass  to  leave  the  command  in  three  years,  except  when  they  had  been  to 
hospital  with  wounds.  Singularly  enough  but  one  of  these  veterans  whose 
times  were  about  to  expire  was  killed  or  crippled  in  this  desperate  en 
counter.  This  one  was  poor  Charley  Fulton,  one  of  the  very  best  and 
bravest  soldiers  in  the  Battery,  and  also  one  of  the  dearest  and  most  delight 
ful  of  comrades.  There  were  two  of  the  Fulton  boys,  John  and  Charley, 


•222  THE  CAXNOXEER. 

and  they  had  pulled  through  all  our  desperate  battles  together  unharmed 
up  to  this  one.  But  poor  Charley  fell  here  at  the  very  pinnacle  of  our 
glory,  and  every  one  in  the  Battery,  from  Capt.  Stewart  down,  mourned 
his  loss.  But  if  the  veterans  did  not  re-enlist  they  wound  up  their  long, 
splendid  careers  in  a  perfect  blaze  of  glory,  and  could  well  afford  to  retire 
on  such  laurels.  No  wonder  Stewart's  good  old  heart  ached  to  see  them 
take  their  honorable  discharges  and  leave  him.  They  were  the  pride  of 
his  soul.  It  seemed  that  he  never  took  quite  so  much  interest  in  the  Bat 
tery  after  they  were  gone. 

Under  our  system  the  artillery  was  a  thankless  service,  and  the  con 
ditions  that  prevailed  during  the  war  made  service  in  the  Eegular  bat 
teries  more  hopeless  than  even  in  the  volunteers.  See  the  service  that 
Stewart  did  from  the  Fall  of  1861  to  the  Fall  of  1864.  It  took  two  years 
and  eight  battles  to  raise  him  from  Second  to  First  Lieutenant ;  and  when 
he  reached  the  latter  rank  he  could  get  no  further,  because  Gibbon  re 
mained  Captain  of  the  Battery  in  the  Regular  Army  List  till  the  end, 
though  a  volunteer  Major-General  of  two  years'  standing,  and  finally  com 
manding  the  Twenty-fourth  Corps  while  still  our  Captain.  The  same  was 
true  of  Griffin's  Battery.  He  remained  its  Captain  even  while  Major-Gen 
eral  commanding  the  Fifth  Corps,  and  blocked  the  promotion  of  Hazlett, 
Rittenhouse,  Kingsbury,  and  other  Lieutenants  who  fought  it — or  died 
among  its  guns — to  the  end  of  the  war.  And  it  was  even  worse  with  the 
'detached  volunteers  who  made  up  the  rank  and  file.  When  they  first 
joined,  in  1861,  they  found  the  non-commissioned  places  filled  with  the 
old  Regulars  naturally,  because  in  the  beginning  the  latter  were  the  best 
qualified  ;  but  as  the  detached  volunteers  became  veterans  they  were  quite 
as  well  fitted  for  the  non-commissioned  posts  as  the  old  Regulars  were.  In 
the  case  of  our  Battery  this  was  not  so  manifest  as  in  many  others.  There 
were  no  better  men  anywhere  than  our  old  Regular  Sergeants  —  Mitchell, 
McBride,  Moore,  Chapin  and  Maher. 

At  any  time  after  Fredericksburg  we  had  at  least  20  men  of  the  de 
tached  volunteers,  Corporals  and  Cannoneers,  besides  the  old  Regulars, 
•any  one  of  whom  was  perfectly  capable  of  commanding  the  Battery,  and 
who,  from  every  point  of  view,  would  have  done  honor  to  the  shoulder- 
straps  of  any  army.  But  owing  to  the  faulty  organization  of  our  artillery 
service  these  men  had  to  serve  on  and  on  in  battle  after  battle  as  private 
Cannoneers,  and  the  only  chance  of  promotion  they  had  was  wThen  a  Ser 
geant  or  Corporal  was  killed  outright,  and  it  used  to  seem  to  me  that  our 
old  Regular  Sergeants  and  Corporals  were  the  hardest  men  to  kill  in  the 
world,  and  that  they  would  carry  off  more  lead  to  the  hospital  and  then 
•come  back  smiling  in  about  two  or  three  months  than  any  other  men  that 
ever  wore  chevrons.  Take,  for  example,  our  Sergeant,  Edgar  A.  Thorpe. 
This  was  one  of  the  handsomest,  noblest,  bravest  and  most  chivalric  young 
gentlemen  I  have  ever  known.  He  enlisted  in  Company  D,  2d  Wisconsin, 
as  early  as  the  middle  of  May,  1861.  He  served  with  his  infantry  regi 
ment  at  the  First  Bull  Run.  Then  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  volunteer  into 


FUKTHER  EEORGANIZATION. 

the  Battery  in  the  Fall  of  1861,  when  it  arrived  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
from  Utah.  He  was  promoted  rapidly  up  to  the  grade  of  Sergeant.  He 
was  mentioned  in  general  orders  for  conspicuous  gallantry  and  exemplary 
conduct  at  Antietam,  Fredericksburg,  Gettysburg  and  Spottsylvania. 
After  the  death  of  Lieut.  Goodman  Capt.  Stewart  made  every  effort  to  get 
Thorpe  promoted  to  be  Second  Lieutenant,  which  could  have  been  done, 
as  the  Battery  needed  one,  and  there  were  two  or  three  vacancies  in  the 
4th  Artillery.  Stewart's  efforts  to  promote  Thorpe  were  approved  by 
Gens.  Wainwright  and  Hunt.  But  our  authorities  would  not  promote  him. 
Doubtless  they  wanted  the  place  for  some  West  Point  graduate  of  that 
year's  class,  who  had  been  studying  and  dancing  on  the  banks  of  the  Hud- 
sou  during  the  years  while  Thorpe  had  been  fighting  all  the  way  from  Bull 
Run  to  Bethesda  Church.  So,  after  Bethesda  Church,  when,  by  other 
assignments  to  the  vacancies  in  the  4th  Artillery,  it  appeared  that  Thorpe's 
recommendations  had  been  ignored,  he  quietly  pocketed  his  honorable  dis 
charge  and  went  home. 

From  June  4  to  12  the  Fifth  Corps  made  no  considerable  movement. 
The  corps  was  considerably  reorganized.  The  Regular  brigade  was  taken 
from  Griffin's  Division  and  put  in  the  Second  Division,  which  was  placed 
under  command  of  Gen.  Ayres,  and  Rittenhouse's,  Rogers's  (Sheldon's) 
and  Walcott's  Batteries  were  assigned  to  it. 

The  old  Third  Brigade  of  Wadsworth's  (Fourth)  Division  was  trans 
ferred  to  Griffin  and  took  the  place  of  the  Regular  brigade,  under  command 
of  Gen.  Chamberlain,  of  Maine.  The  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  having  been 
mustered  out  during  the  operations  about  Cold  Harbor,  a  new  Third  Di 
vision  was  made  up  for  Gen.  Crawford.  It  consisted  of  Lyle's  Brigade, 
formerly  First  Brigade  of  Robinson's  (Second)  Division  ;  Bates's  Brigade, 
formerly  the  Second  of  the  latter  division,  and  a  Third  Brigade  composed 
of  the  re-enlisted  men  of  the  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  who  were  formed  in 
two  large  regiments  and  called  the  190th  and  191st  Pennsylvania.  Cooper's, 
Barnes's  and  Bigelow's  were  assigned  to  Crawford's.  The  Fourth  Di 
vision,  under  Cutler,  was  now  reduced  to  two  brigades,  of  which  the  First 
(Iron  Brigade)  was  commanded  by  Gen.  Bragg  and  the  Second  (Cutler's 
Brigade)  by  Col.  Hofmann.  Breck,  Mink  and  Hart  were  temporarily 
assigned  to  Cutler,  while  Stewart,  Phillips  and  Richardson  remained  with 
Griffin.  During  this  time  the  only  event  of  importance  in  our  Battery 
was  the  return  of  Lieut.  Mitchell  to  duty  on  June  7,  after  a  long  and  severe 
illness,  which  had  come  near  using  him  up.  It  is  not  easy  to  describe  the 
joy  with  which  we  all  welcomed  Mitchell  home,  or  his  own  gratification  at 
being  with  us  again,  Stewart  succeeded  in  "capturing"  an  extra  ration 
of  "commissary"  for  the  boys,  so  that  we  could  appropriately  celebrate 
the  event. 

It  is  doubtless  proper  to  consider  these  operations  about  Bethesda 
Church  and  Cold  Harbor  as  terminating  the  "Virginia  Campaign  of  1864  " 
proper,  as  the  subsequent  movements  belong  to  the  "siege  of  Petersburg." 
Therefore  it  may  be  of  interest  to  pause  here  for  a  brief  resume  of  the 


224 


THE  CANNONEER, 


history  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  the  5th  of  May  to  the  5th  of  June, 
embracing  an  approximate  account  of  its  sufferings  and  a  description  of 
its  morale  and  physique  as  it  stood  ready  to  move  on  Petersburg  and  Rich 
mond.  Of  course  I  speak  more  particularly  of  the  Fifth  Corps  as  to  move 
ments,  because  from  my  humble  station  in  the  ranks  I  could  not  be  familiar 
with  the  operations  of  the  other  corps,  except  fragmentarily  and  by  hearsay; 
but  my  observations  as  to  the  mental,  moral  and  physical  condition  of  that 
corps  will  apply  equally  to  the  others. 

In  30  days  the  army  had  marched  from  the  Rapidan  to  the  James.  It 
had  been  in  battle  May  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12, 14,  18,  23,  24,  25,  29,  30, 
31  and  June  1,2,  3 — 19  days  in  all.  This  refers  only  to  more  or  less  serious 


MITCHELL'S  RECEPTION. 

fighting  by  part  or  all  of  the  army,  as  there  was  not  a  day  when  there  had 
not  been  more  or  less  skirmishing  on  some  part  of  the  line,  either  by  in 
fantry  or  cavalry.  It  had  built  altogether  trenches  and  breastworks  enough, 
if  stretched  out  in  a  straight  line,  to  have  reached  from  Culpeper  to  Peters 
burg.  It  had  lost  from  all  causes  —  killed,  wounded,  prisoners  and  dis 
ability  from  sickness  caused  by  its  incredible  fatigues  and  privations — over 
70,000  men.  It  had  received  reinforcements,  counting  the  Ninth  Corps, 


REVIEW  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN.  225 

amounting  to  perhaps  40,000  men.  It  had  started  from  its  Winter  camps 
at  Culpeper  with  100,000  in  round  numbers  of  all  arms.  It  had  arrived  at 
the  James  perhaps  70,000  strong,  including  the  Eighteenth  Corps,  which 
had  joined  it  at  Cold  Harbor,  though  returning  to  the  Army  of  the  James 
soon  after.  It  was  now  about  to  lose,  say ,  20, 000  of  its  best  men  by  the  ex 
piration  of  the  terms  of  three-years  volunteers  who  had  not  re-enlisted  ;  in 
fact,  these  had  begun  to  muster  out  rapidly  when  we  reached  the  James, 
several  leaving  our  Battery  early  in  June.  The  army  was  receiving  recruits 
all  the  time,  but  they  were  to  a  considerable  extent  conscripts,  substitutes 
and  "  big-bounty  men, "  on  the  whole  much  inferior  in  quality  to  the  old 
volunteers  of  1861  and  1862.  Still  they  "kept  up  the  racket,"  and 
eventually  helped  wind  up  the  business  in  good  shape  at  Appomattox. 
What  these  recruits  of  1864  would  have  done  with  the  Rebel  army 
in  its  prime,  as  when  the  veterans  first  had  to  deal  with  it,  no  one  can 
say;  but  they  at  least  proved  equal  to  the  task  of  confronting  and  whip 
ping  and  capturing  it  in  its  decay,  and  that  was  enough.  For  of  the 
60-odd  thousand  men  who  closed  around  Lee's  remnant  at  Appomattox 
there  were  not  more  than  20 ,000  who  had  been  at  Gettysburg,  not  more 
than  12, 000  who  were  at  Antietam,  and  probably  not  300  who  had  fought 
at  the  First  Bull  Run.  Few  people  reflect  how  completely  the  personnel  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  changed  between  Gettysburg  and  Appo 
mattox — between  the  "high  tide  "  of  the  rebellion  and  its  last  ebb.  That 
army  was  fighting  from  July  21,  1861,  till  April  9,  1865.  One  hundred 
thousand  was  about  the  greatest  force  it  ever  had  "present  for  duty 
equipped ' '  at  any  one  time.  But  the  muster  rolls  of  the  Government  show 
that  over  700,000  names  passed  through  its  rosters  during  that  time. 

I  also  desire  at  this  point,  in  concluding  this  humble  recital  of  the 
great  Virginia  campaign  of  1864,  to  refer  to  another  subject.  It  has  be 
come  fashionable  of  late  years  for  writers  to  dwell  upon  "the  enormous 
disparity  of  numbers  "  and  "the  great  inequality  of  equipment, "  etc.,  be 
tween  the  armies  of  Grant  and  Lee  in  that  campaign.  We  were  superior 
in  numbers,  it  is  true,  but  not  more  so  than  was  fair  in  view  of  the  ad 
vantage  they  had  all  the  time  from  the  Rapidan  to  the  James  of  being  the 
assaulted  force.  With  rare  exceptions  the  history  of  that  campaign  was 
that  of  assaults  by  us  on  works  varying  in  strength  from  field  breastworks 
to  regular  fortifications,  we  always  attacking  with  no  protection  except  the 
woollen  blouses  that  covered  our  bosoms,  they  crouching  behind  "head 
logs ' '  or  covered  in  rifle  pits.  On  this  score  we  may  safely  appeal  to  the 
history  of  a  few  assaults  or  sorties  that  they  made  against  us.  Whenever 
they  assaulted  us  in  fieldworks,  as  at  the  Plank  and  Brock  Roads  the  6th 
of  May,  or  when  they  attacked  us  in  the  open,  as  the  5th  of  May  in  the 
Wilderness,  or  on  the  Mechanicsville  Pike  at  Bethesda  Church  the  2d  and 
3d  of  June,  they  came  quickly  and  profoundly  to  grief. 

No  one  more  cordially  accords  the  meed  of  courage  to  our  Rebel  country 
men  than  I  do;  no  one — not  even  themselves — can  be  prouder  of  their 
splendid  prowess,  because  we  are  all  Americans.     But  I  am  not  willing 
to  admit  that  they  were  so  much  our  superiors  as  fighting  men  —  so  much 
15 


226  THE  CAXXOXEEB. 

better  soldiers  than  we  were,  man  for  man,  as  their  writers  claim,  and  as  some 
of  our  writers  seem  to  admit.  They  never  had  a  battery  that  could  have 
stood  in  front  of  Stewart's  in  the  open  at  point  blank  range  20  minutes, 
when  our  old  boys  were  all  at  their  posts !  They  never  had  a  battery  that 
could  have  unliinbered  under  our  canister  as  we  did  under  theirs  at  Be- 
thesda.  They  never  had  an  infantry  brigade  that  could  ' '  down ' '  the  old 
Iron  Brigade,  man  for  man,  on  any  field;  nor  Bartlett's  Veteran  Brigade,  nor 
Lewis  Grant's  Vermonters,  nor  Upton's  Brigade,  nor  Webb's  Philadelphia 
Brigade,  nor  Sprigg  Carroll's,  nor  Cutler's  Brigade,  and  so  on.  It  is  not  my 
purpose  to  ' '  rub  it  in  "  on  the  Rebels.  Frankly,  they  fought  better  and  suf 
fered  worse  than  sensible  men  had  any  right  to  fight  and  suffer  in  such  a  cause. 

But  without  discussing  the  merits  of  the  cause,  and  viewing  them  from 
the  true,  soldierly  standpoint  of  their  risks,  privations  and  sufferings  alone, 
we  must  forever  face  the  fact  that,  with  the  single  exception  of  Gettysburg, 
they  always  defended  their  cause  from  behind  cover,  while  we  always  vindi 
cated  our  cause  with  bosoms  bared !  These  things  are  said  in  no  unkind 
spirit — in  no  spirit  of  triumph  over  a  fallen  foe  —  but  simply  because  they 
are  the  truths  of  history,  and,  taking  its  whole  military  work  from  Bull 
Bun  to  Appomattox,  the  sober  verdict  of  impartial  historians  for  all  time 
will  be  that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  never  had  an  equal  in  soldierly 
quality  and  in  fullness  of  martial  virtues. 

The  casualties  of  the  Union  forces  in  the  operations  about  Cold  Harbor 
and  Bethesda  were  as  follows  : 

SECOND  CORPS. 

First  Division 1,561 

.Second  Division 1,674 

'Third  Division 231 

Artillery  Brigade 54 

General  staff,  etc 10 

FIFTH  CORPS.  3,530 

First  Division 481 

Second  Division 473 

Third  Division 194 

Fourth  Division 157 

Artillery  Brigade *35 

SIXTH  CORPS.  i'3^ 

First  Division 1,125 

Second  Division 653 

Third  Division 915 

Artillery  Brigade. . 22 

NINTH  CORPS.  2'~15 

First  Division 409 

Second  Division 804 

Third  Division 488 

CAVALRY  CORPS.  I'^l 

First  Division 156 

Second  Division 36 

Third  Division 238 

Horse-Artillery  Brigade 19 


Grand  total  Army  of  the  Potomac 9,725 

*  Of  this  loss  25  was  suffered  by  Phillips's,  Richardson's  and  Stewart's. 


THIRTY  DAYS'  LOSSES. 


227 


EIGHTEENTH  CORPS. 

First  Division •  1,264 

Second  Division 1,156 

Third  Division 591 

Artillery  Brigade 8 


Grand  total. 


3,019 
12,744 


Total  in  the  Wilderness 
Total  at  Spottsylvania.... 

Total  at  North  Anna 

Total  at  Cold  Harbor,  etc 


RECAPITULATION. 


12,744 


Grand  total  in  30  days 52,795 

There  is  no  convenient  means  of  ascertaining  exactly  how  many  left 
the  ranks  in  consequence  of  sickness  or  exhaustion,  but  it  was  fully  20,000. 
The  losses  in  our  Battery  were,  in  both  days'  fighting,  as  follows : 
Killed  or  mortally  wounded,  Gustavus  Saxey,  Charles  L.  Fulton,  Henry 
Powers,  John  F.  Hubbard ;  wounded,  War 
ren  Givens,  Henry  Beecham,  James  H.  Lewis, 
Tom  Price,  John  McLaughlin,  Wm.  Funke 
George  C,  Barrett,  John  C.  Barthe,   George 
Bowers,  William  Kelley,   Richard  Tea  and 
Abe  Velie. 

Some  of  these  were  not  hurt  badly  enough 
to  leave  the  Battery.  There  were  five  or  six 
others  who  "showed  blood,"  but  not  enough 
to  be  returned  as  wounded.  Jim  Lewis  had 
a  close  call,  but  got  off  without  serious  in 
jury.  His  time  was  out  anyhow,  and  it 
would  have  been  pretty  hard  luck  for  him  to 
be  killed  or  crippled  at  the  end  of  his  term  of 
enlistment,  after  three  years  of  such  service 
as  he  had  done. 

The  usual  difficulty  in  arriving  at  an  accu 
rate  estimate  of  the  Confederate  strength  and 
losses,  already  referred  to,  appears  with  ex 
traordinary  clearness  in  this  campaign ;  and, 
doubtless,  in  view  of  the  fragmentary  char 
acter  of  their  returns,  through  destruction  of 
papers,  etc.,  it  will  forever  be  impossible  to 
get  at  the  exact  figures.  But  enough  is 
known  to  demonstrate  that  the  so-called 
"disparity  of  force"  was  by  no  means  so  great  as  has  been  popularly  sup 
posed,  and  that  the  "disproportion  of  losses,"  though  necessarily  great  in 
consequence  of  the  vastly  different  conditions  under  which  the  two  armies 
operated,  is  still  less  than  was  to  be  expected  under  the  circumstances.  On 
this  point  the  author  has  to  renew  his  expressions  of  obligation  to  Maj.  E. 
C.  Dawes,  of  Cincinnati,  late  of  the  53d  Ohio,  for  a  most  careful  and 


JAMES  H.  LEWIS. 
[From  a  photograph.] 


228  THE  CANNONEEK. 

laborious  compilation,  based  upon  profound  research  of  the  Confederate 
data  extant.  Without  following  the  gallant  Major  through  his  exhaust 
ive  survey,  it  suffices  to  give  here  his  resultant  summaries,  which  are  as 
follows : 

The  return  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  for  April,  1864,  shows  "pres 
ent  for  duty  "  in  the  corps  of  Gen.  Ewell  and  A.  P.  Hill,  the  cavalry  command 
of  Gen.  Stuart,  the  artillery  and  the  "  Maryland  Line  "  : 

Generals  and  staff  officers 366 

Regimental  and  company  officers 3,717 

Enlisted  men 50,174 

Total 54,257 

Hoke's  Brigade,  of  Early's  Division,  and  two  regiments  of  Rodes's  Di vision, 
on  detached  service,  are  not  included. 

Maj.  Dawes  then  carefully  computes  the  strength  and  composition  of 
each  reinforcement  received  by  Lee  between  the  Rapidan  and  the  James, 
and  concludes  that  in  the  aggregate  during  the  whole  of  that  campaign 
Gen.  Lee's  line  of  battle  strength  was : 

Return  of  April  30 54,617 

Longstreet's  command 15,480 

Twentieth  South  Carolina  (estimated) 600 

Rodes's  regiment 380 

Hoke's  old  brigade 1,707 

Breckinridge's  Division 3,100 

Pickett's  Division 6,805 

Hoke's  Division 6,703 

Artillery  with  Pickett  and  Hoke 762 

Reinforcements  to  cavalry  (estimated) 5,500 

Finnegan's  Brigade  (estimated) 1,500 

Total 97,154 

The  return  of  the  Department  of  Richmond  May  31, 1864,  shows  an  "effect 
ive  total "  of  5,386  troops  in  addition  to  those  specified  above.  All  of  these  were 
available  to  reinforce  the  army  of  Gen.  Lee,  and  some  of  them  were  in  the 
lines  at  Cold  Harbor.  It  is  within  bounds  to  say  that  Gen.  Lee  had  between  the 
Rapidan  and  the  James,  in  the  months  of  May  and  June,  1864,  not  less  than 
100,000  men  for  battle. 

By  cognate  methods  of  calculation  and  from  similar  data  Maj.  Dawes 
deduces  that  "  it  is  a  fair  conclusion  from  the  figures  given  that  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia  lost  in  the  campaign  from  the  Eapidan  to  the  James, 
in  May  and  June,  1864,  in  killed,  wounded  and  missing  35,000  men." 
He  also  calls  attention  to  a  fact  which  has  hitherto  seemed  to  escape  the 
notice  of  military  writers ;  that  is  to  say,  the  more  consistent  system  of 
organization  which  prevailed  in  the  Confederate  army  than  in  ours.  On 
this  point  Maj.  Dawes  says : 

In  making  any  comparative  statement  of  the  strength  of  the  Union  and 
Confederate  armies  some  differences  in  their  organizations  should  be  noted. 
In  the  Confederacy  after  1861  all  soldiers  were  enrolled  "  for  the  war."  There 
was  scarcely  a  single  new  regiment  organized  after  1862.  Recruits  and  con 
scripts  were  assigned  to  old  regiments,  whose  ranks  were  thus  kept  full.  Pro 
motions  were  promptly  made  to  fill  all  vacancies.  Each  infantry  and  cavalry 
company  had  three  Lieutenants.  Brigades,  divisions  and  army  corps  were 
commanded  by  officers  of  appropriate  rank.  Brigades,  as  a  rule,  retained  the 
same  organization  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  to  the  end. 


STARTING  FOE  PETERSBURG.  229 

In  the  Union  Army  there  was  perpetual  change.  Men  were  enlisted  for  all 
periods  —  from  three  months  to  three  years.  Under  each  call  for  troops  new 
regiments  were  organized.  Each  infantry  and  cavalry  company  had  but  two 
Lieutenants.  Promotions  were  not  permitted  in  old  regiments  if  the  number 
of  officers  on  the  rolls  was  proportionately  greater  than  the  number  of  enlisted 
men.  The  chances  for  promotion  were,  therefore,  in  inverse  ratio  to  the  ser 
vice  performed.  Brigades  and  divisions  were  changed  with  each  campaign, 
and  seldom  commanded  by  officers  of  proper  rank.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
including  the  Ninth  Corps,  at  the  opening  of  the  Wilderness  campaign  con 
tained  41  infantry  brigades,  of  which  26  were  commanded  by  Colonels.  The 
Arm  y  of  Northern  Virginia,  including  Longstreet's  Corps,  contained  35  infantry 
brigades,  31  of  which  were  commanded  by  Brigadier-Generals.  Of  the  bri 
gades  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  which  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Gettys 
burg  but  six,  in  May,  1864,  were  composed  of  the  same  regiments  as  in  Julyt 
1863.  All  of  the  advantages  of  organization  were  clearly  with  the  Confederate 
army. 

At  dusk  on  June  12  we  began  crossing  the  Chickahominy  at  Long 
Bridge,  and  moved  out  on  that  road  during  the  night,  our  head  of  column  — 
Griffin's  Division,  with  our  Battery,  Richardson's  and  Phillips's — reaching 
Riddle's  Crossroads  before  daylight  on  the  13th.  We  at  first  thought  this 
was  an  advance  on  Richmond,  and  the  men  hailed  with  enthusiasm  the  idea 
of  a  direct  assault  on  the  main  works  of  that  place,  which  they  hoped  would 
end  the  war.  There  can  be  no  grander  tribute  to  the  pluck  and  resolution 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  than  the  fact  that,  after  all  the  privations,  fa 
tigues  and  slaughter  of  the  past  35  days,  unparalleled  in  history,  the  troops 
of  Warren's  old  Fifth  Corps  were  not  only  ready  but  anxious  to  assault  the 
formidable  main  works  of  Richmond  straight  in  the  face. 

However,  it  soon  turned  out  that  this  was  nothing  but  a  heavy  dempn- 
stration,  calculated  to  cover  the  movement  of  the  army  to  the  James  River ; 
and  so,  as  soon  as  the  rear  of  the  Ninth  Corps  was  clear  of  the  Chickahominy, 
we  retraced  our  steps,  the  cavalry  bringing  up  our  rear,  and  moved  rapidly 
off  to  the  James,  where  we  arrived  at  a  place  called  Wilcox's  Landing  the 
14th  of  June.  Here  we  found  pontoon  bridges,  the  Second  Corps  already 
across,  and  a  fleet  of  steamboats  and  tows  with  supplies,  which  were  very 
welcome.  I  shall  never  forget  the  joy  with  which  I  here  quaffed  a  glass  of 
ice  water  from  a  cooler  on  one  of  the  boats  where  I  was  sent  with  a  detail  to 
help  unload  ammunition  boxes. 

There  hadn't  been  much  icewater  in  the  Wilderness  campaign.  The 
fabled  ' '  Nectar  of  the  Gods ' '  was  insipid  in  comparison  with  it.  Probably 
there  was  not  at  that  time  a  man  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  who  would 
not  have  chosen  a  glass  of  icewater  in  preference  to  any  other  beverage  that 
could  have  been  offered  him — provided,  of  course,  that  he  could  not  have 
both. 

Marching  from  Windmill  Point  with  Griffin's  Division  we  arrived  in 
sight  of  the  enemy's  works  in  front  of  Petersburg  in  the  afternoon  of  the  17th, 
and  found  that  we  were  to  take  position  to  the  left,  and  that  it  was  expected 
to  assault  the  works  at  once.  We  did  not  get  into  position  until  it  was  too 
late  to  assault  that  day ;  but  during  the  night  Gen.  Griffin  got  his  batteries 
up  into  the  Norfolk  Railroad  cut,  which  at  that  point  curved  to  the  north, 


230  THE  CAXXONEEK. 

and  ours  was  disposed  so  that  we  could  rake  the  cut  for  a  considerable 
distance.  Richardson's  took  position  to  our  right  and  near  the  A  very 
House,  while  Phillips's  came  up  on  the  left.  This  position  was  about 
600  yards  from  the  enemy's  main  works  at  that  point.  These  were  new 
works  in  a  second  line,  and  the  outer  intrenchinents  that  he  had  abandoned 
on  the  day  before  ran  along  near  our  position. 

But  at  daylight  it  was  found  that  the  enemy's  new  position  required 
us  to  get  on  the  other  side  of  the  cut  to  have  a  good  range  on  it,  so  we  pulled 
into  the  cut,  and  remained  there  out  of  sight,  pending  the  infantry  dispo 
sitions  for  the  grand  charge.  The  infantry  was  a  long  time  getting  ready, 
so  that  it  was  past  noon  when  we  got  the  order  to  get  out  of  the  cut  and  go 
into  battery  on  the  knoll  above.  We  had  just  got  to  work  with  case  shot 
when  the  infantry  —  Bartlett's  Brigade,  in  our  immediate  front —  rose  up 
and  started  forward.  As  far  as  we  could  see  to  the  right  were  long  lines  of 
infantry  rushing  toward  the  works.  The  ground  was  much  broken,  and  as 
the  lines  conformed  to  the  ground  it  had  the  appearance  of  great  waves  of 
men.  In  our  front  the  infantry  had  farther  to  go  than  those  to  the  right  of 
us,  but  we  were  too  busy  to  see  much  of  it.  As  both  our  guns  and  the 
Rebel  works  were  on  the  highest  ground,  we  could  easily  fire  over  the  heads 
of  our  infantry  until  they  got  pretty  close  up.  The  Rebel  infantry  in  the 
works  reserved  their  fire,  and  only  a  few  guns  that  they  had  back  of  their 
trenches  replied  to  us  slowly  ;  but  we  fired  very  fast,  and  our  practice  was 
the  best  in  our  history.  Our  work  here  was  literally  that  of  an  artillery 
skirmish  line,  as  we  first  opened  the  assault  and  then  covered  the  retreat 
of  the  infantry  when  repulsed.  Nearly  every  shot  grazed  their  works,  and 
we  knocked  off  a  good  many  of  their  head  logs.  But  the  ammunition  was 
some  that  we  had  got  out  of  the  barges  at  Windmill  Point,  and,  to  speak 

after  the  fashion  of  an  exasperated  Gunner,  it  wasn't  worth  a !  Not 

more  than  half  our  case  exploded,  though  the  common  shell  did  better. 

However,  our  three  batteries  soon  silenced  the  guns  the  enemy  had  in 
his  works.  The  practice  of  Phillips's  Battery  (three-inch  rifles)  was  su 
perb  on  this  occasion.  Twice  in  succession  he  hit  their  guns  plum  center  by 
firing  into  the  embrasures,  and  the  way  his  percussion  shell  made  the  sand 
bags  fly  was  a  caution.  Of  course  our  smoothbores  could  not  compete 
with  Phillips's  rifles,  but  we  kept  our  little  end  up  somehow.  As  they 
had  made  these  works  hastily,  and  there  was  little  or  no  brush  in  the 
neighborhood,  they  were  not  much  abatised ;  but  the  infantry  said  the 
ditches  were  unusually  wide  and  deep.  The  last  shot  we  fired  could  not 
have  cleared  Bartlett's  men's  heads  by  more  than  20  feet,  if  that,  which  is 
pretty  risky  practice  with  smoothbore  guns.  This  last  shot  from  our  guns 
caused  me  the  most  serious  accident  I  had  while  in  the  service.  I  had  got 
careless  about  "standing  clear,"  and  on  this  occasion  the  trail  slewed  a 
little  on  account  of  striking  some  obstruction,  the  wheel  struck  me  and 
knocked  me  down,  and  severely  bruised  my  left  instep  and  ankle.  I 
thought  at  first  that  my  leg  was  broken,  but  the  boys  helped  me  up,  and  I 
could  stand  on  my  foot,  though  it  was  badly  bruised  and  began  to  swell. 


CAPT.  STEWART'S  ACCOUNT.  231 

In  a  few  minutes  I  had  to  rip  the  whole  front  of  my  boot  open,  and  soon 
took  it  off  altogether.  Lieut.  Mitchell  then  ordered  me  to  the  rear,  or 
rather  back  to  the  spare  caissons.  We  remained  silent  here  for  nearly  an 
hour,  when,  the  infantry  having  been  repulsed  and  taken  cover  in  the  ra 
vine  and  the  low  ground  in  our  front,  we  commenced  a  slow  cannonade, 
which  we  kept  up  till  near  dark.  The  infantry  meanwhile  straightened 
out  the  old  Eebel  works,  refaced  them,  and  by  midnight  were  securely  es 
tablished  in  the  lines,  which  we  held  at  that  point  during  the  whole  siege 
that  followed.  We  were  withdrawn  after  dark  behind  the  railroad,  and 
the  siege  of  Petersburg  was  begun.  Capt.  Stewart  writes  me  concerning 
the  operations  of  June  18  as  follows : 

When  the  corps  reached  Petersburg  the  morning  of  the  18th  of  June  Gen. 
Griffin  came  to  me  and  told  me  that  he  wanted  me  to  move  my  Battery  forward, 
and  that  he  would  cover  my  advance  by  the  other  two  batteries.  After  mov 
ing  a  certain  distance,  and  Phillips  and  Richardson  having  joined  me,  I  was 
directed  to  move  forward  again,  the  General  pointing  out  the  place  where  he 
wished  me  to  form  the  line  of  batteries,  but  when  I  reached  the  place  I  found 
there  was  no  protection  for  either  men  or  horses,  but  that  there  was  a  good 
position  about  200  yards  in  advance  of  it.  I  moved  forward  to  that  point* 
the  other  batteries  coming  up  on  my  left.  You  will  recollect  the  place. 
It  was  in  the  front  and  a  little  to  the  right  of  the  Avery  House,  where  Gen. 
Warren  had  his  headquarters.  The  enemy  had  substantial  works  in  our  front, 
with  embrasures  for  their  guns.  While  advancing  to  our  position  the  enemy 
opened  upon  us  with  a  very  heavy  fire  of  artillery  and  infantry,  but  our 
artillery  fire  was  so  very  effective  that  they  closed  up  their  embrasures  with 
bags  of  sand  and  withdrew  their  guns.  I  do  not  remember  how  many  men  I 
lost  that  day,  but  it  was  not  many.  Capt.  Phillips's  Battery  lost  pretty  heavily, 
his  First  Lieutenant  (Blake)  being  killed.  Phillips  was  one  of  the  best  artillery 
officers  I  ever  met,  a  thorough  gentleman  and  an  officer  who  always  looked 
out  for  the  best  interests  of  his  men.  After  that  attack  of  June  18  it  was  quite 
a  common  saying  that  the  batteries  assigned  to  Griffin's  Division  were  always 
used  as  skirmishers,  and  such  was  the  fact. 

Let  us  now  see  what  our  comrades  were  doing  in  this  memorable  action 
of  the  great  assault  on  Petersburg.  During  the  evening  of  June  17,  when 
Cutler's  Division  went  into  position  to  prolong  the  left  of  the  Ninth  Corps, 
Mink  and  Breck  went  with  Cutler,  who  posted  them  in  position  to  the  left 
of  the  Suffolk  Pike  and  in  front  of  the  house  between  this  road  and  the 
Norfolk  Railroad,  where  they  engaged  the  guns  on  the  enemy's  right. 
About  dusk  Cooper's  Battery  (Capt.  Cooper  had  returned  and  resumed 
command  of  his  Battery)  was  also  brought  up  and  posted  south  of  the 
Avery  House,  opening  on  the  enemy's  works  around  that  house  at  500 
yards.  The  other  batteries  were  not  engaged  during  the  evening  of  the 
17th.  June  18,  at  sunrise,  Cutler's  Division  advanced  from  the  Avery 
House  to  the  edge  of  the  woods  beyond.  Breck's,  Mink's  and  Cooper's 
Batteries  were  pushed  forward  with  them  and  took  position  to  the  right  of 
the  woods  along  a  ridge,  opening  on  the  enemy's  batteries  and  troops  be 
yond  the  railroad.  Soon  after  Barnes's,  Bigelow's  and  Hart's  Batteries 
were  brought  up  on  the  right  of  these  and  also  opened.  Meanwhile  Ayres's 
Division,  with  Rittenhouse's,  Rogers's  and  Walcott's  Batteries,  had  passed 
around  to  the  left  of  Cutler  and  crossed  the  railroad.  The  three  batteries 


232  THE  CANNONEER. 

went  into  position  900  yards  in  front  of  the  great  salient  of  the  enemy's 
works  and  opened  fire.  As  soon  as  the  enemy's  skirmishers  were  driven 
out  of  the  woods  on  the  farther  side  of  the  railroad  Mink's  Battery  was 
thrown  forward  and  formed  at  right  angles  to,  and  about  500  yards  from, 
the  railroad,  firing  up  the  track  and  driving  the  enemy  out  of  the  clump 
of  woods  in  his  front.  Barnes  was  removed  to  within  100  yards  of  Mink's 
right,  and  Cooper  was  also  brought  forward. 

Having  gained  the  railroad  along  the  whole  front  of  the  Fifth  Corps, 
about  noon  the  Second  and  Fourth  Division,  with  a  portion  of  the  First, 
being  established  beyond  it,  Mink's  Battery  was  moved  to  the  edge  of  this 
cut,  to  the  right  of  the  Taylor  House,  engaged  two  of  the  enemy's  guns 
immediately  in  his  front  at  500  yards  and  kept  them  silent  nearly  all  the 
time.  Bigelow's  and  Hart's  Batteries  were  taken  across  the  railroad  and 
halted  behind  the  crest  with  Chamberlain's  Brigade,  of  Griffin's  Division, 
while  slight  lunets  were  being  thrown  up  on  the  crest  held  by  our  skir 
mish  line.  At  3  to  4  p.  m.,  when  the  general  attack  was  made,  these  bat 
teries  were  shoved  up  on  the  crest  and  opened  on  the  enemy's  works  as  our 
troops  passed  down  into  the  intervening  ravine.  Barnes's  Battery  was 
soon  after  brought  over  and  posted  about  75  yards  to  the  left  of  the  others. 
The  attack  failing,  the  batteries  covered  the  withdrawal  of  our  troops.  The 
position  held  by  Mink's,  Bigelow's  and  Hart's  Batteries  was  within  easy 
canister  and  musketry  range  of  the  enemy's  works,  and  all  suffered  severely. 
Their  practice  was  excellent,  and  reflected  great  credit  on  their  officers  and 
men.  After  dark  Barnes,  Bigelow  and  Hart  were  withdrawn.  After  June 
19  Mink's  Battery  remained  in  position  near  the  Taylor  House  until  the 
morning  of  June  24,  firing  occasional  shots  during  the  time,  when  he  was 
relieved  by  a  battery  of  the  Ninth  Corps  and  camped  with  the  Reserve. 
Bigelow's  Battery  returned  to  its  position  beyond  the  railroad  on  the  19th 
and  20th.  On  the  21st  this  battery  was  assigned  to  Crawford's  Division, 
and  took  position  on  the  24th  to  the  left  of  the  Jerusalem  Plank  Road, 
in  front  of  the  Gregory  House.  Hart's  Battery  relieved  Bigelow's  in  its 
position  of  the  18th  beyond  the  railroad  on  the  morning  of  the  21st,  where 
it  remained  until  the  28th,  on  which  day  it  went  into  reserve  until  July 
13,  when  it  occupied  the  smaller  redoubt  back  of  the  Cheever  House. 
Cooper's  and  Breck's  Batteries  held  their  positions  near  the  front  of  the 
woods  in  front  of  the  Avery  House  until  the  20th,  when  they  were  assigned 
to  Crawford's  Division,  and  on  the  26th  relieved  two  batteries  of  the  Second 
Corps  in  the  small  works  west  of  the  Jerusalem  Plank  Road.  Breck  was 
moved  into  the  large  redoubt  on  the  12th  of  July.  Rittenhouse,  Rogers 
and  Walcott  remained  in  their  positions  of  the  18th. 

Summing  up  the  work  of  the  Fifth  Corps  batteries  in  the  great  Vir 
ginia  campaign,  Gen.  Charles  S.  Wainwright,  chief  of  the  corps  artillery, 
says  in  his  official  report : 

Excepting  in  the  engagements  on  the  North  Anna,  May  33,  and  in  front  of 
Petersburg,  June  18,  the  campaign  covered  by  this  report  afforded  but  little 
opportunity  for  the  legitimate  and  successful  use  of  artillery.  There  were 
but  few  days,  to  be  sure,  iu  which  some  of  the  batteries  were  not  engaged  with 


GEX.  WAIXWRIGHT'S  VIEWS.  233 

the  enemy's  artillery,  but  as  they  (the  enemy)  were  always  well  protected,  the 
most  accomplished  was  a  temporary  quieting  of  their  fire.  Hardly  a  charge 
was  made  either  by  or  upon  our  lines  which  was  not  made  through  the  woods 
where  artillery  could  do  almost  nothing.  In  the  few  opportunities  that  there 
were  of  bringing  a  single  section  or  battery  into  play,  as  near  Bethesda  Church 
on  the  30th  of  May  by  Lieut.  Richardson,  and  again  on  the  2d  of  June  by  Lieut. 
Stewart,  the  work  was  quickly  and  well  done.  At  the  North  Anna  the  prompt 
movement  of  Stewart's,  Hart's,  Mink's,  Walcott's  and  Mathewson's  Batteries 
of  light  13-pounders  undoubtedly  relieved  the  corps  from  great  danger,  if  they 
did  not  save  it  from  defeat.  The  ground  moved  over  by  the  corps  in  its  ad 
vance  on  the  18th  of  June  was  mostly  open  and  intersected  by  gentle  slopes, 
affording  the  very  best  chance  for  the  manuvering  of  light  batteries,  which  I 
believe  I  may  say  was  taken  full  advantage  of.  The  losses  of  the  brigade  in 
material  has  not  been  heavy,  but  in  officers  and  men  it  has  suffered  materially, 
especially  in  the  former.  Capt.  H.  N.  Davis  and  Second  Lieut.  De  Motte,  1st 
New  York  Artillery ;  First  Lieut.  Blake,  of  the  5th  Massachusetts  Battery,  and 
First  Lieut.  Thomas  Goodman,  serving  with  B,  4th  United  States  Artillery, 
were  either  killed  in  action  or  died  of  wounds.  All  of  them  were  officers  of 
great  promise  and  who  stood  high  in  the  estimation  of  those  who  knew  them. 
To  Maj.  R.  H.  Fitzhugh,  1st  New  York  Artillery ;  Capt.  J.  A.  Cooper,  1st  Penn 
sylvania  Artillery,  and  Capt.  A.  P.  Martin,  Massachusetts  Artillery,  the  senior 
officers  of  the  brigade,  and  who  frequently  held  detached  commands  of  two  or 
more  batteries,  I  have  been  indebted  for  most  valuable  services.  I  regret  to 
say  that  both  the  last-named  officers  since  left  the  service  after  having  for 
three  years  held  the  positions  of  Captains  of  artillery  and  participated  in  all 
the  actions  of  this  army.  The  false  organization  of  the  artillery  arm  in  our 
service  provides  no  way  of  rewarding  such  officers  by  deserved  promotion.  In 
•every  case  during  the  campaign  I  have  found  all  the  battery  commanders 
prompt  to  perform  the  duties  required  of  them  and  fully  seconded  by  their 
subordinates  and  men.  Where  all  have  done  so  well  I  can  have  no  particular 
individual  to  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  commanding  General. 

It  is  proper  to  say  at  the  close  of  this  chapter  that  it  has  been  found 
impracticable  to  keep  wholly  within  the  scope  of  personal  observation  and 
at  the  same  time  write  properly  the  history  of  our  own  Battery  from  indi 
vidual  memory.  During  the  whole  campaign  from  the  Rapidan  to  the 
Jerusalem  Plank  Road  the  Artillery  Brigade  of  the  Fifth  Corps  was  worked 
as  a  united  command,  the  batteries  being  operated  very  much  as  companies 
of  a  regiment  would  be ;  wherefore  any  attempt  to  follow  the  career  of  any 
one  of  them  without  adverting  frequently  to  the  others  would  be  ridiculous, 
and  would  also  in  many  cases  produce  a  false  impression.  Therefore,  in 
preparing  the  foregoing  chapter  relating  to  the  great  Virginia  campaign,  the 
author  has  freely  consulted  and  used  the  unpublished  official  reports. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG  —  " SHOVEL  AND  SHOOT"  — NIGHT 

MAGNITUDE  OF  THE  WOEKS  —  ENGINEEE  DUTY  —  CONSTANT  EX 
TENSION  TO  THE  LEFT— CUTTING  THE  WELDON  RAILROAD  —  DI 
VERSIONS  IN  THE  TRENCHES  —  POKER  —  A  GREAT  "DRAW"  — 
FINE  MORALE  OF  THE  TROOPS  —  RECRUITS  COMING  IN  — BOUNTI 
FUL  SUPPLIES. 

HE  effort  of  the  Second  Corps  to  ex 
tend  its  lines  to  the  left  of  the  Jerusa 
lem  Plank  Road  brought  on  an  en 
counter  on  June  22,  which  for  a  time 
bid  fair  to  assume  the  proportions  of  a 
general  engagement,  but  finally  re 
sulted  in  the  retirement  of  the  enemy 
from  their  outlying  works  to  their 
main  line,  and  the  Second  Corps  took 
up  the  ground  it  desired.  After  this 
the  army  settled  down  to  siege  opera 
tions  proper. 

At  first  the  guns  of  the  light  bat 
teries  were  mounted  in  the  redoubts, 
but  as  soon  as  the  siege  trains  came 
up  our  guns  wrere  gradually  replaced 
by  the  20-pounder  Parrotts  and  four- 
and-a-half  inch  Rodmans.  Meantime 
the  caissons  were  parked  and  a  cais 
son  camp  established  some  distance- 
back  from  the  main  lines,  which  at 
this  point  were  only  a  few  hundred 
feet  apart.  It  was  in  the  edge  of  a 
grove,  on  high,  dry  ground,  where 
there  was  good  shade.  Here  we  made 

very  pleasant  Summer  quarters.  Our  left  flank  rested  on  the  bank  of  a  little 
ravine,  formed  by  one  of  the  headwater  brooks  of  the  Blackwater,  and  in  our 
rear,  at  some  distance,  was  the  ' '  fresh  beef  corral ' '  or  herding  ground  of  the 
Fifth  Corps.  The  other  batteries  of  the  Artillery  Brigade  of  the  corps  made 
similar  camps  in  our  vicinity.  Proper  siege  operations  now  progressed 
rapidly.  The  infantry  furnished  every  night  large  working  parties,  under 
whose  busy  spades  and  axes  the  lines  soon  grew  into  regular  approaches  of  the 
heaviest  character.  The  artillery  furnished  gun  crews  for  their  own  guns  or 


"ENGINEER  DUTY."  235 

the  siege  pieces  in  position,  or  helped  to  strengthen  the  redoubts.  I  was  now 
employed  with  gangs  of  infantry  and  heavy  artillerymen  in  the  redoubt 
to  the  right  of  Fort  Sedgwick,  my  work  being  mainly  to  aid  in  the  revet 
ting  of  the  parapet  with  logs  and  flanking  the  embrasures  with  "gabions." 
These  last  were  made  of  branches  of  trees  interwoven  so  as  to  form  large 
round  baskets  about  the  size  of  a  salt  barrel.  They  were  set  close  together 
on  top  of  the  parapet  and  tilled  with  earth.  I  was  every  other  night  re 
lieving  and  being  relieved  by  a  Corporal  of  the  New  York  Engineers,  and 
was  very  proud  of  being  assigned  to  engineer  duty.  It  was  not  only  hard 
work,  but  dangerous,  as  the  enemy,  knowing  that  we  were  working  on  top 
of  the  parapets  during  the  nights,  kept  up  a  constant  fusillade,  by  which 
several  men  were  hit  in  our  gangs  from  time  to  time,  some  of  whom  were 
killed.  I  disliked  this  very  much,  as  it  was  a  cold-blooded  business  and 
required  much  more  nerve  than  to  work  a  gun  in  close  action,  where  the 
excitement  holds  a  man  to  his  post.  This  work  was  always  done  at  night  — 
as  a  squirrel  could  not  have  lived  on  the  top  of  that  parapet  in  the  day 
time  —  and  the  sensation  of  watching  their  works  a  few  hundred  feet  away, 
to  see  their  rifles  flash  in  the  darkness,  was  the  most  trying  thing  I  had 
ever  experienced.  I  used  to  be  thankful  that  it  was  -dark,  so  that  the  men 
of  our  gangs  could  not  see  how  "white  I  was  around  the  gills."  If  I 
looked  as  white  as  I  felt  at  times,  it  must  have  been  something  ghastly. 
Our  infantry  would  reply  to  this  night  firing  from  the  "curtain  works" — 
that  is,  the  plain  breastworks  connecting  the  redoubts — and  also  from  the 
outlying  rifle  pits,  where  we  had  any ;  though,  at  this  early  stage  of  the 
siege  we  had  not  begun  to  push  out  rifle  pits  much.  However,  on  the 
night  of  July  1,  about  10  o'clock,  I  was  standing  on  the  top  of  the  ' '  return ' ' 
of  our  right  bastion,  just  above  and  a  little  in  front  of  the  flank  of  the  cur 
tain.  The  top  of  the  bastion  was  probably  six  or  seven  feet  higher  than 
the  top  of  the  curtain.  I  had  two  infantrymen  with  me,  and  we  were 
replacing  gabions  knocked  off  in  a  slight  cannonade  during  the  day.  I 
noticed  that  the  curtain  was  full  of  infantry  clear  up  to  the  re-entrant 
angle.  Suddenly  they  commenced  firing  on  their  right,  and  the  fire  ran 
rapidly  down  toward  us.  They  were  safe  enough,  as  they  were  firing 
through  loopholes  under  their  head  logs,  but  the  flashes  of  their  rifles  lit  up 
the  whole  place  and  brought  out  the  forms  of  my  two  men  and  me  in  bold 
relief  on  top  of  the  main  works. 

Quicker  than  thought  there  came  a  volley  of,  doubtless,  200  or  300 
rifles  from  the  Rebel  curtain,  rifle  pits,  redoubts,  etc.,  all  aimed  at  ns 
three.  The  bullets  thumped  in  the  earth  under  our  feet  and  sent  splinters 
from  the  gabions  flying  about  our  ears  before  we  could  collect  our  senses 
enough  to  get  down.  We  were  all  three  hit.  One  ball  tore  through  the 
collar  of  my  jacket,  making  a  red  welt  on  the  left  side  of  my  neck  ;  another 
tore  my  left  sleeve  near  the  shoulder,  and  the  third  struck  the  heel  of  my 
boot,  knocked  it  loose,  and  glanced.  This  shocked  my  foot  so  I  thought 
I  was  hit  sure  enough  until  I  examined  it  after  we  got  down.  One  of  the 
men  with  me,  named  Simmons,  of  the  6th  or  7th  Wisconsin,  was  badly 


236  THE  CANNONEER. 

hit,  and  I  think  I  remember  his  comrades  telling  me  sometime  afterward 
that  the  poor  fellow  died  of  his  wounds.  He  was  struck  in  the  right  groin 
and  left  shoulder.  The  other  man  —  Flack,  probably  from  the  24th  Michi 
gan —  was  hit  about  as  I  was,  but  one  ball  laid  his  right  cheek  open  just 
below  the  cheek  bone.  Pretty  good  shooting  that  for  a  dark  night,  at 
about  30  rods  distance,  with  nothing  but  the  flash  of  a  volley  to  take  aim 
by !  I  complained  about  this  to  Gen.  Warren  in  person  when  he  came  into 
the  redoubt,  and  he  gave  orders  that  when  the  infantry  intended  to  open 
in  the  night  at  any  part  of  the  curtain  close  to  the  redoubts  or  bastions, 
they  should  first  give  notice  to  the  working  parties  in  the  redoubts  to  clear 
the  tops  of  the  parapets. 

The  firing  this  night  was  very  sharp  and  lasted  a  long  time.  Several 
of  the  guns  also  opened  at  different  points,  but  not  from  the  redoubt  we 
were  in.  The  enemy's  fire  was  so  persistent  that  some  of  our  officers 
thought  it  was  the  prelude  to  a  night  assault.  But  we  afterward  learned 
that  it  was  only  a  way  the  Johnnies  took  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of 
the  first  day  of  Gettysburg.  However,  it  caused  most  of  Cutler's  Division 
to  be  turned  out  and  double  quicked  into  the  trenches  on  that  part  of  the 
line,  and  they  lay  there  till  near  daylight.  Gen.  Warren  came  into  the 
redoubt  in  person,  accompanied  by  some  of  his  staff,  and  ordered  the  guns 
in  position  to  load  and  be  ready.  The  General  sat  down  on  the  banquette 
by  the  embrasure  and  chatted  with  us  very  pleasantly.  One  of  the  men 
from  Bigelow's  battery  asked : 

"How  long  are  these  siege  operations  going  to  last,  do  you  think,  Gen. 
Warren?" 

"That  depends  entirely  on  you,  boys,"  replied  the  General,  and  Bige 
low's  man  got  himself  laughed  at. 

Then  he  related  some  funny  anecdotes  about  working  the  Cadets'  Bat 
tery  at  West  Point.  I  suppose  Gen.  Warren  staid  there  chatting  with  his 
private  soldiers  for  half  an  hour  or  more.  He  then  went  out  of  the  gorge 
and  passed  on  to  some  other  part  of  the  line.  You  will  never  hear  any 
soldier  of  Warren's  old  Fifth  Corps  say  anything  but  the  kindest  and  the 
most  admiring  words  about  him. 

The  devices  for  securing  accuracy  of  fire  in  this  night  shooting  were  in 
genious.  The  men  on  both  sides  would  each  select  a  particular  part  of  the 
opposing  works  nearest  his  own  front.  They  would  then  put  down  a  forked 
stick,  and  arrange  it  so  that  when  the  muzzle  of  the  rifle  was  poked  through 
the  loophole  under  the  head  log  and  the  barrel  just  forward  of  the  trigger- 
guard  rested  in  the  fork  of  the  stick  the  gun  would  be  sighted  just  right  to 
sweep  the  top  of  the  enemy's  parapet.  This  they  would  do  in  the  daytime, 
when  they  were  not  firing,  and  so  when  they  wanted  to  fire  at  night  all  they 
had  to  do  was  to  place  the  musket  as  above  described,  and  they  had  as  good 
aim  as  they  could  get  by  day.  Of  course  they  could  not  see  the  individual 
men  working  at  night,  but  they  could  keep  a  storm  of  balls  sweeping  the 
tops  of  the  opposing  works  at  random,  taking  their  chances  on  a  man  being 
in  the  track  of  the  bullet.  In  this  way  the  night  casualties  on  both  sides 


BIGELOW'S  BOYS.  237 

were  severe  among  the  working  parties.  During  these  days  and  nights  in 
the  forts  many  funny  things  occurred.  On  one  occasion  one  of  Bigelow's 
Corporals  was  bragging  about  what  his  battery  did,  and  how  fearfully  it 
had  suffered  at  Gettysburg. 

' '  We  lost  28  men, ' '  he  said,  ' '  out  of  120. " 

* '  Well, ' '  said  I,  ' '  we  lost  40  out  of  97.     How  is  that  for  high  ? ' ' 

And  then  I  twitted  him  that  his  battery  was  only  a  mushroom  organi 
zation,  anyhow,  while  ours  was  eternal ;  and  I  also  reminded  him  that  we 
had  lost  44  men  out  of  102  at  Antietam,  and  even  after  that  we  routed  the 
Eebels  out  of  the  Cornfield  with  our  canister  alone.  I  then  began  to  tell  him 
how  "we  fought  under  O'Brien  at  Buena  Vista,"  etc.,  and  he  could  not 
stand  it  any  longer. 

' '  Oh,  of  course  you  get  cut  up, "  he  exclaimed.  ' '  That's  what  you  are 
for.  You  are  nothing  but  common  Regulars,  hired  to  die !  It's  your  trade ! 
But  we  Massachusetts  boys  are  citizen-soldiers,  fighting  for  our  principles 
and  to  save  the  Union  !  I'll  bet  a  wormy  hardtack  there  aren't  three  of  you 

Regulars  in  Battery  B  that  can  explain  intelligently  what  this  war  is 

for,  anyhow  ! ' ' 

The  absurdity  of  this  was  that  Battery  B  was  at  this  time  almost  wholly 
manned  by  detached  volunteers,  and  they  were  far  above  the  average  at  that. 

No  one  who  has  not  seen  the  "Petersburg  lines,"  as  they  were  called, 
before  they  began  to  fall  into  decay,  can  form  any  idea  of  the  work  of  log- 
cutting  and  digging  that  we  did  between  June  18  and  July  15.  The  Fifth 
and  Ninth  Corps  held  the  line  from  the  Appomattox  on  the  right,  beginning 
with  Fort  McGilvery,  to  the  Jerusalem  Plank  Road  on  the  left,  a  distance 
of  over  four  miles,  our  (Fifth)  corps  resting  its  left  flank  on  the  heavy  re 
doubt,  known  afterward  as  Fort  Davis,  in  front  of  the  Cheever  House,  and 
its  right  joining  the  left  of  the  Ninth  at  the  Suffolk  Road.  The  redoubt  in 
which,  on  the  night  of  July  1,  as  before  described,  poor  Simmons,  Flack  and 
I  were  made  the  innocent  cause  of  such  a  display  of  fireworks  was  to  the 
left  of  what  afterward  became  Fort  Rice,  half  way  between  the  Avery 
House  and  Fort  Sedgwick  —  nicknamed  by  the  troops  uFort  Hell."  It 
was  at  the  apex  of  the  slight  salient  which  our  line  made  at  that  place,  and 
was  then  the  nearest  point  to  the  Rebel  main  line  on  the  Fifth  Corps  front, 
though  the  Ninth  Corps  line  at  Fort  Morton  was  still  closer. 

They  had,  as  early  as  July  1,  many  rifle  pits  not  30  rods  from  our 
parapet.  Well,  when  you  bear  in  mind  that  these  works  were  not  mere 
"breastworks"  or  field  trenches,  but  regular  fortifications;  that  the  cur 
tain  or  connecting  work  was  in  many  places  scarped  eight  or  10  feet,  in 
cluding  the  depth  of  the  ditch  in  front ;  that  the  redoubts  were  either 
diamond-shaped  salients  or  bastions,  and  some  of  them,  where  there  was 
the  least  chance  of  a  reverse  fire  or  enfilade,  were  elaborately  traversed  ;  that 
in  some  of  the  redoubts  and  forts  it  was  frequently  12  or  15  feet  from  the 
bottom  of  the  ditch  to  the  top  of  the  ramparts,  counting  the  hight  of  the 
gabions,  revetted  with  logs,  banquetted  for  infantry  on  the  inner  slopes 
and  provided  with  proper  platform  approaches  to  the  embrasures  where 


238  THE  CANNONEER. 

needed — when  yon  take  account  of  all  this,  I  say,  yon  mnst  know  that  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  had  to  work  hard  as  well  as  fight  hard,  and  that  it  did 
both  well.  I  took  great  personal  pride  in  ' '  The  Redan, ' '  because  I  worked 
on  it  a  good  deal,  and  my  youthful  vanity  was  excessively  flattered  by 
being  made  "walking  boss,"  and  having  small  parties  of  infantry  and 
heavy  artillerymen  under  my  command.  The  worst  part  of  the  work  was 
hoisting  the  earth  from  the  ditch  onto  the  parapet.  The  men  shoveling  in 
the  ditch  could  easily  keep  their  heads  down,  and  were  in  no  danger  ex 
cept  from  a  surprise,  which  was  not  likely  to  be  attempted.  But  the  men 
who  had  to  stand  on  top  of  the  parapet  to  place  the  earth  were  truly  what 
the  French  call  enfants  perdus.  Gen.  Warren,  who  was  himself  an  engi 
neer  officer,  and  one  of  the  most  accomplished  engineers  this  country  has 
produced,  either  military  or  civil,  used  to  visit  us  almost  every  night  and 
sometimes  during  the  day. 

Having  been  an  attentive  student  of  the  history  of  the  war  for  a  quar 
ter  of  a  century,  I  have  often  remarked  how  little  attention  has  been  paid 
to  the  details  of  the  siege  of  Petersburg.  By  this  I  mean,  not  the  opera 
tions  in  the  field  against  Lee's  flanks,  resulting  in  battles  of  more  or  leso 
magnitude,  but  the  solid,  hard  work  of  building  the  tremendous  earthworks 
which  finally  formed  one  continuous  fortification  from  Fort  McGilvery  on 
our  extreme  right  at  the  Appomattox  River  round  to  Fort  Fisher  on  our 
extreme  left,  between  11  and  12  miles  long,  or  perhaps  15  miles,  measuring 
along  the  top  of  the  parapet,  besides  heavy  reverse  works  to  our  rear,  ex 
tending  from  the  Blackwater  Creek  round  to  the  Weldon  Railroad,  at 
Globe  Tavern,  a  distance  of  seven  or  eight  miles;  thence  south  a  mile  and  a 
half  to  Fort  Dushane,  covering  that  portion  of  the  Weldon  Road  which  we 
used  as  an  adjunct  to  our  "military  railway,"  and  thence  westward  from 
Fort  Dushane  to  Armstrong's  Mill,  near  the  Vaughn  Road  Bridge  across 
Hatcher's  Run,  a  distance  of  about  eight  miles  more — in  other  words,  32 
to  35  miles  of  earthworks-1— that  it  would  be  absurd  to  call  mere  "field 
intrenchments, "  but  which  were,  on  the  whole,  regular  fortifications  quite 
equal  to  those  I  have  since  seen  in  Europe  at  places  on  the  Franco-German 
and  German-Russian  frontiers,  which  their  engineers  considered  perma 
nent  strongholds. 

In  the  strict  military  sense,  Petersburg  was  not  besieged.  A  true 
siege  is  an  operation  against  an  enemy  inclosed  in  a  fortified  place,  with 
all  avenues  of  escape  cut  off.  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson  were  true 
sieges.  In  the  strict  sense  of  military  terms,  Petersburg  was  simply 
attacked  by  regular  approaches,  the  objective  point  being  to  force  the  enemy 
to  evacuate  it  so  that  we  could  get  at  him  in  the  open.  However,  for 
brevity,  we  say  that  Petersburg  was  besieged.  At  sundown  on  June  18, 
1864,  it  was  evident  to  the  humblest  private  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
that  we  could  not  force  the  Petersburg  lines  by  direct  assault.  Everything 
that  flesh  and  blood  and  lead  and  iron  and  steel  could  do  in  that  direction 
had  been  done  by  the  troops  of  the  Second,  Fifth,  Ninth  and  Eighteenth 
Corps  from  the  extreme  right  of  our  fighting  line  that  day  to  the  cross- 


THE  "LAST  DITCH."  239 

ing  of  the  Jernsalem  Plank  Road  on  our  left,  and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
settled  down  to  the  grim  conclusion  that  they  had  struck  the  "last  ditch" 
of  the  Confederacy  here,  and  would  stay  by  it  until  the  end.  The  disposi 
tions  were  about  as  follows  :  The  Ninth  Corps  held  the  line  from  the  bridge 
head  on  the  Appomattox  to  the  "old  turnpike"  or  Blackwater  Road 
(leading  to  Suffolk).  The  Fifth  held  along  the  Jerusalem  Plank  from  the 
left  of  the  Ninth  Corps  as  far  as  the  Cheever  House.  The  Second  Corps 
joined  onto  the  left  of  the  Fifth,  and  was  "refused  "  at  first  to  the  left, 
but  in  a  day  or  two  swung  round  to  a  point  near  the  Globe  Tavern,  which 
was  on  the  Weldon  Railroad,  or  rather  on  the  old  Meherrin  Turnpike  or 
Hicksford  Road.  The  Sixth  Corps  was  in  reserve  to  the  Fifth  and  Second, 
and  spent  most  of  the  time  till  it  was  sent  to  Washington,  in  July,  in  lay 
ing  out  the  rear  and  reverse  works  from  Blackwater  Creek  to  the  Jeru 
salem  Hank,  except  as  it  was  engaged  in  support  of  the  Second  Corps,  at 
or  near  Globe  Tavern,  June  22.  The  length  of  the  line  held  by  the  Ninth 
Corps  was  about  two  miles,  and  that  of  the  Fifth  Corps  about  two  and  one- 
fourth  miles,  and  this  covered  the  east  front  of  Petersburg  City  from  the 
Appomattox  at  the  mouth  of  Harrison's  Creek  to  the  Cheever  House  on 
the  Jerusalem  Plank  Road.  I  do  not  know  what  were  the  divisional  dis 
positions  of  the  Ninth  Corps,  but  the  Fifth  was  disposed  as  follows  :  The 
First  Division  (Griffin's)  holding  what  was  known  as  "the  Avery  House 
front,"  from  the  Blackwater  Road  to  the  high  ground  south  of  the  Norfolk 
Railroad  Cut — about  one  mile  in  a  direct  line.  The  Second  and  Third 
Divisions  held  the  left  of  the  line  in  front  of  the  Cheever  House,  and  reach 
ing  as  far  as  the  forks  of  the  Globe  Tavern  and  Jerusalem  Roads.  The 
Fourth  Division  (Cutler's)  held  from  Griffin's  left  to  the  Jerusalem  Road, 
at  the  point  where  Fort  Sedgwick  was  built.  Up  to  this  time  the  batteries 
of  the  corps  had  been  distributed  among  the  divisions ;  ours,  Phillips's 
and  Richardson's  having  been  with  Griffin  since  about  the  last  of  May. 
But  as  soon  as  the  siege  operations  began  the  Artillery  Brigade  was  massed 
together  again  and  put  into  camp,  as  elsewhere  mentioned.  At  the  start 
the  infantry  simply  made  ordinary  field  breastworks  to  cover  themselves, 
the  same  as  they  had  been  during  all  the  way  from  the  Wilderness,  and 
the  Rebels,  who  had  been  forced  back  into  their  second  line,  strengthened 
that  as  well  as  they  could,  the  two  lines  on  Bartlett's  front  being  not  more 
than  200  yards  apart  in  some  places.  The  Norfolk  Railroad  cut  was  the 
key  of  the  position  on  our  front  when  the  assault  was  made.  It  is  the  cut 
by  which  that  road  gets  through  the  ridge  on  which  the  Avery  House 
stands,  this  little  ridge  forming  the  watershed  between  the  brook  that 
forms  the  head  of  the  Blackwater,  flowing  eastward,  and  a  small  creek 
which  heads  just  south  of  the  old  Blackwater  Road  and  flows  northward, 
emptying  into  the  Appomattox  just  in  front  of  Fort  McGilvery,  its  entire 
course  being  between  the  two  lines,  and  its  sloping  banks  forming  the  ele 
vations  from  which  the  two  sets  of  earthworks  frowned  at  each  other  during 
the  rest  of  the  war. 

This  cut  is  about  one-third  of  a  mile  long,  its  deepest  part  being  directly 


240  THE  CANNONEER. 

in  front  of  the  A  very  House,  and  not  more  than  200  yards  distant  from  it, 
at  which  point  it  may  be  30  to  35  feet  deep  perpendicularly.  It  was  in 
this  cut  that  Griffin  massed  his  division  for  the  last  assault  about  4  o'clock 
p.  m. ,  June  18,  and  from  the  southeast  end  of  it  our  Battery,  with  Rich 
ardson's  and  Phillips's,  debouched  onto  the  knoll  above  to  fire  over  the 
heads  of  our  charging  infantry. 

Our  line  of  works  curved  round  the  head  of  the  little  brook  flowing 
into  the  Appomattox,  and  then  crossed  the  cut  at  a  point  about  due  west 
from  the  Avery  House.  The  approach  of  our  works  on  the  north  side  of 
the  cut  was  by  a  heavy  curtain  or  infantry  parapet,  terminating  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  cut  in  a  small  redoubt,  with  obstructions  in  the  bottom 
of  the  cut  forming  cover  for  two  guns  mounted,  so  as  to  rake  it  as  far  as  its 
curvature  would  permit.  On  the  southwest  bank  of  the  cut  our  works 
began  with  a  strong  salient,  one  parapet  of  which  was  simply  a  continua 
tion  of  the  scarp  formed  by  the  slope  of  the  cut  itself.  The  north  bastion 
of  this  work  commanded  the  whole  length  of  the  cut,  and  to  some  extent 
enfiladed  the  salient  of  the  Rebel  works  at  the  point  where  they  enveloped 
the  Norfolk  Railroad  embankment,  as  it  trended  to  the  west  to  enter  the 
city,  though  at  a  range  of  a  mile  or  a  mile  and  a  quarter,  which  point  was 
in  front  of  the  Ninth  Corps,  near  where  Fort  Haskell  was  afterward  built. 

The  redoubt  on  the  side  south  of  the  railroad  cut  was  laid  out  by  Gen. 
Warren  in  person,  assisted  by  one  or  two  of  his  staff,  and  he  had  to  expose 
himself  to  the  enemy's  fire  at  a  pretty  close  range.  While  indicating  the 
lines  of  this  redoubt  Gen.  Warren  had  to  crawl  on  hands  and  knees  in 
some  places  in  front  of  the  trenches  held  by  our  infantry,  who,  while  he 
was  out  there,  kept  the  whole  line  fairly  ablaze  with  musketry  in  order  to 
cover  him  from  the  enemy  ;  so  that,  as  he  crawled  along  staking  out  the 
angles,  there  was  almost  a  solid  sheet  of  lead  going  over  him  not  10  feet 
above  his  head.  He  was  not  in  so  very  much  danger  from  the  Rebels,  how 
ever,  as  the  fire  that  was  kept  up  from  our  breastworks  to  cover  him  swept 
every  inch  of  the  Rebel  works  on  our  front,  so  that  a  squirrel  could  hardly 
have  lived  on  the  top  of  their  parapets,  and  their  fire  was  kept  down  most 
of  the  time. 

As  the  General  needed  the  assistance  of  men  to  carry  and  place  the 
stakes  to  mark  the  outline  of  the  proposed  work,  volunteers  were  called 
for,  and,  as  I  recollect,  every  man  in  that  part  of  the  trenches  held  up  his 
hand  as  a  signal  of  his  readiness  to  go.  The  men  in  this  particular  part  of 
our  trenches  that  day  were  the  New  York  Sharpshooters,  attached  to  Cutler's 
Division,  and  the  Michigan  Sharpshooters,  from  Gen.  Bartlett's  Brigade, 
of  Griffin's  Division,  together  with  a  detail  of  artillerymen.  I  suppose  that 
Gen.  Warren  had  put  his  sharpshooters  all  in  there  because  he  intended  to 
expose  himself,  and  wanted  good  cover.  The  Johnnies  soon  found  out  what 
sort  of  fellows  they  had  to  deal  with,  and  remained  strictly  on  their  good 
behavior. 

As  soon  as  these  preparations  had  been  made  working  parties  were  told 
off  and  the  business  of  fort-building  began.  These  ' '  working  parties ' '  con- 


INGENUITY  OF  THE  ENGINEERS.  241 

sisted  of  half  of  the  infantry  and  the  light  artillery  of  the  corps,  and  they 
stood  "watch  and  watch,"  relieving  each  other  every  24  hours,  just  before 
daylight.  At  a  later  date,  after  the  heavier  works  were  completed,  the 
reliefs  were  easier  ;  but  from  the  21st  of  June  to  the  middle  of  July,  while 
the  main  lines  were  building  from  the  Appomattox  to  the  Jerusalem  Plank 
Road,  the  whole  of  the  Ninth  and  Fifth  Corps  stood  "watch  and  watch," 
24  hours  on  and  24  hours  off,  half  of  each  corps  being  on  duty  at  a  time. 
The  "connecting  curtains"  or  infantry  parapets  which  stretched  from  one 
redoubt  or  redan  or  fort  to  another  were  heavy  field  earthworks,  thrown  up 
from  an  outer  ditch,  loopholed  for  musketry  and  crowned  with  head  logs, 
having  rifle  pits  for  the  pickets  at  suitable  distances  in  front,  and  these 
pits,  whenever  the  ground  admitted,  were  connected  with  the  curtains  by 
zigzag  or  covered  ways.  And  later  the  pits  themselves  were  connected  to 
form  an  advance  line. 

In  front  of  all  was  thrown  an  abatis,  which  on  our  part  of  the  line 
was  a  work  of  art,  meriting  detailed  description.  The  conventional 
abatis  was  simply  the  tops  of  trees  with  their  upper  branches  lopped  off 
and  sharpened,  the  points  being  turned  toward  the  enemy.  But  the  inge 
nuity  of  Benham's  New  York  Engineers  made  an  improvement  on  this 
system  of  chevaux  de  frise.  They  took  small  logs,  about  eight  inches  in 
diameter  and  16  feet  long,  and  bored  one-and-one-half  or  two-inch  holes 
through  them  every  12  or  16  inches.  Then  they  bored  the  same  number 
of  alternate  holes  at  a  right  angle  to  the  first  ones.  Through  these  holes 
they  drove  stakes  about  seven  feet  long,  sharpened  at  both  ends,  so  that 
when  finished  the  thing  looked  like  the  head  of  a  revolving  horse-rake 
with  two  sets  of  teeth.  These  bristling  affairs  were  then  placed  by  night 
about  100  or  150  feet  in  front  of  the  works,  and  the  ends  locked  up  together 
with  wire,  so  they  could  not  be  cut  apart  easily.  The  mode  of  working 
was  as  follows :  As  soon  as  the  lines  had  been  laid  out  the  whole  of  the 
infantry,  and  artillery  were  divided  into  two  grand  reliefs,  plentifully  sup 
plied  with  intrenching  tools,  and  when  it  was  dark  they  lined  their 
trenches  from  end  to  end  and  rapidly  built  the  parapet  with  earth  exca 
vated  from  the  ditches  in  front.  Everybody  had  to  work.  In  addition, 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  logs  were  required  for  revetting,  for  making  pal 
isades,  chevaux  de  frise,  etc.,  and  the  smaller  limbs  of  the  trees  were  woven 
into  baskets  for  gabions.  The  region  in  the  rear  of  the  lines  was  heavily 
timbered  with  medium-sized  pine  and  oak  trees,  just  suitable  for  that  use, 
and  the  teams  of  the  fighting  trains,  and  also  many  of  the  artillery  teams, 
were  brought  to  haul  these  logs,  etc.,  from  the  woods  to  the  works.  They 
would  haul  the  stuff  in  daytime  as  near  the  works  as  it  was  safe  to  come 
with  the  teams,  and  then  run  it  into  the  intrenchments  at  night.  Meantime 
the  fire  on  both  sides  was  incessant  night  and  day,  varying  from  spattering 
pot-shots  between  the  outlying  pickets  in  the  rifle  pits  to  a  perfect  blizzard 
all  along  the  line,  which  generally  occurred  two  or  three  times  a  day.  The 
Avery  House  redan  was  finished  and  mounted  with  two  siege  guns  ready 
for  action  about  2  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  July  4,  Gen.  Warren  being 

16 


242  THE  CAXXOXEEK. 

present  in  person  when  the  gun  detachments  were  told  off  for  the  heavy 
guns.  I  was  assigned  to  the  right  gun  in  the  southwest  bastion  as  No.  4, 
Serg't  "diet."  Phillips,  of  one  of  the  New  York  batteries  —  Richardson's, 
probably  —  being  Captain  of  the  gun.  This  was  a  four-and-a-half-inch 
Rodman,  bran-new,  and  a  perfect  beauty.  Gen.  Warren  had  decided  to 
have  our  gun  bear  on  the  Rebel  salient  diagonally  opposite  us,  which  they 
called  "Fort  Rives."  And  just  before  daylight  he  came  to  the  embrasure 
in  person,  pointed  out  to  us  the  proper  ' '  lay ' '  of  the  gun  as  he  wanted  it 
to  bear,  and  then  personally  superintended  the  replacing  of  the  gabions,  so 
as  to  close  up  the  embrasure  as  narrowly  as  possible,  and  the  hanging  of 
the  mantelet  of  coiled  rope  to  protect  the  Cannoneers  from  sharpshooters. 
While  engaged  in  this  he  thought  there  was  too  much  slope  of  the  plat 
form  to  the  rear,  which  would  let  the  gun  recoil  too  far,  and  said,  ' i  I  think, 
boys,  you  will  have  trouble  in  running  your  gun  up.  There  is  still  half  an 
hour  before  daylight,  and  as  there  is  quite  a  pile  of  timber  outside  the 
postern,  I  think  you  had  better  lug  it  in  and  place  it  so  as  to  elevate  the 
rear  of  your  platform."  So  in  about  15  minutes  we  had  leveled  up  our 
platform  by  some  two  feet  at  the  rear  end,  and  had  secured  two  heavy 
beams  by  stakes  driven  in  the  ground  so  as  to  catch  the  wheels  and  stop 
the  recoil ;  otherwise,  as  we  afterward  found,  the  gun  would  have  recoiled 
clear  off  the  platform  after  it  got  hot. 

With  the  first  gray  streak  in  the  east,  enabling  us  to  see  the  Rebel 
works  dimly,  the  Acting  Gunner,  who,  as  I  recollect,  was  Stillman,  turned 
the  screw  of  our  big  Rodman  down  till  her  sight  line  just  cleared  the 
throat  of  an  embrasure  in  Fort  Rives,  cleared  the  wheel,  and,  as  Serg't 
Phillips  gave  the  signal,  I  pulled  my  first  siege  gun  lanyard.  The  shot — 
a  percussion  shell  bolt  —  went  right  into  the  Rebel  embrasure,  exploding 
as  it  struck,  and  disabled  one  of  their  guns  the  first  pass !  At  all  events, 
they  did  not  begin  to  fire  from  that  embrasure  till  more  than  an  hour  after 
ward,  and  when  they  did  we  repeated  the  dose,  after  which  that  embrasure 
was  silent  for  the  rest  of  the  day.  Our  fire  was  very  slow  and  deliberate, 
not  more  than  10  rounds  an  hour,  as  Gen.  Warren  had  told  us  that  the 
object  of  that  day's  bombardment  would  be  to  establish  the  ranges  of 
various  points  in  the  Rebel  lines  and  drill  the  men  who  had  never  before 
handled  heavy  siege  pieces. 

The  Rebels  did  not  reply  with  much  vigor  on  our  part  of  the  line,  be 
cause,  as  I  have  since  been  informed  by  their  men,  they  had  no  guns 
mounted  in  the  works  opposite  us  except  field  pieces,  which  were  no  match 
for  the  artillery  we  had  in  our  redoubts.  But  to  our  right,  nearer  the 
river,  and  in  the  Ninth  Corps  front,  they  had  heavy  guns  mounted,  and  on 
that  part  of  their  line  they  held  their  own  pretty  well.  This  bombard 
ment  ceased  generally  about  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  though  occasional 
shots  were  fired  until  dark. 

Our  works  were  not  damaged,  except  that  some  gabions  were  knocked 
down,  but  these  were  replaced  that  night.  No  guns  were  dismounted  or 
injured  on  our  part  of  the  line,  and  there  were  no  casualties  in  our  redan. 


THE  ''OLD  LIXES  OF  PETERSBUKG. 


243 


244  THE  CANNONEER. 

The  four-and-a-half  inch  Kodman  was  a  superb  weapon,  perfectly  reliable 
up  to  a  range  of  2,500  yards,  and  easily  handled  for  its  weight,  but  it  was 
pretty  light  in  proportion  to  its  load,  and  recoiled  sharply. 

The  main  line  of  works  built  by  the  Fifth  and  Ninth  Corps  in  June 
and  July,  1864,  from  the  Apponiattox  Eiver  to  the  Jerusalem  Plank  Road, 
were  usually  termed  "The  Old  Lines,"  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
later  works  erected  from  time  to  time  farther  around  to  the  left.  They 
were  much  stronger  and  more  elaborate  than  there  was  any  need  of,  viewed 
as  mere  "approaches,"  but  there  was  a  reason  for  that.  They  were  made 
of  extraordinary  strength,  and  practically  impregnable,  because  they  were 
intended  as  a  "  place  of  arms, ' '  or  base  of  operations,  and  to  form  an  im 
penetrable  cover  for  our  communications. 

The  soldiers  had  a  habit  of  describing  their  battles,  attacks  and  sieges 
in  their  own  phrase,  and  in  making  my  maps  and  diagrams  I  have  usually 
followed  the  soldiers'  designations  instead  of  the  official  ones.  In  the  esti 
mation  of  the  troops  the  ' '  Old  Lines ' '  embraced  all  the  works  built  on 
the  east  and  southeast  fronts  of  Petersburg  up  to  the  movements  of  Aug. 
19,  20,  21  and  25  by  the  Fifth  and  Second  Corps  against  the  Weldon  Rail 
road  at  Globe  Tavern  and  Ream's  Station.  Generally  speaking,  the  "New 
Lines"  west  of  the  Weldon  Railroad  were  not  siege  works  proper,  but  sim 
ply  covering  works  designed  to  protect  our  continuous  movements  against 
Lee's  right  flank.  They  were  never  shoved  up  close  to  the  enemy,  as  the 
Old  Lines  were.  They  were  well  built,  though  by  no  means  of  such  elabo 
rate  description  as  the  original  works.  In  another  place  I  speak  of  the 
almost  incredible  labor  expended  on  these  lines,  performed,  as  it  was,  under 
constant  fire,  where  literally  Toil  and  Death  went  hand  in  hand.  But, 
while  the  work  was  very  hard  and  trying,  we  were  not  wholly  without 
diversion. 

One  night  the  infantry  picket  relief  brought  in  a  copy  of  the  Richmond 
Examiner,  which  they  had  got  from  the  Rebel  picket.  We  fellows  in  the 
redoubt  chipped  in  and  paid  $2  for  this  paper.  It  had  a  description  of  the 
Cold  Harbor  assault,  and  also  of  the  assaults  on  Petersburg  the  18th  of 
June.  There  was  an  editorial  reference  to  these  articles  which,  among 
other  things,  remarked  that  "the  Yankee  hordes  have  now  for  the  second 
time  learned  wThat  it  is  to  beard  the  Southern  lion  in  his  den!"  There 
was  truth  in  this,  because  both  of  those  affairs  had  been  bloody  repulses 
of  the  most  frightful  character,  where  our  losses  had  been  simply  sicken 
ing,  with  no  corresponding  damage  to  the  enemy.  But  the  tone  of  the 
editorial  stirred  us  up,  and  finally,  at  the  instance  of  the  other  men,  I 
wrote  out  a  "communication"  to  the  editor  of  the  Examiner,  which  we 
sent  through  the  picket  line  the  next  day.  It  was  as  follows : 

To  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  RICHMOND  EXAMINER. 

DEAR  SIR:  We  have  your  valuable  paper  of  the  — instant,  and  have  read 
with  interest  your  accounts  of  our  assaults  on  your  works  at  Cold  Harbor  and 
also  on  this  front  the  18th  instant.  We  presume  that  from  your  standpoint 
the  accounts  are  accurate,  but  your  informants  are  in  error  as  to  our  losses. 
We  lost  men  enough  in  both  assaults,  but  not  22,000  at  Cold  Harbor,  nor  16,000 


A  NEWSPAPER  CONTROVERSY.  245 

on  this  front  the  18th ;  in  fact,  not  the  half  of  what  you  state  in  either  case. 
But  we  lost  enough.  There  will  be  no  dispute  between  us  about  that.  We  also 
note  what  you  say  about "  bearding  the  Southern  lion  in  his  den/'  Believe  us, 
Mr.  Editor,  we  have  a  profound  respect  for  "  the  Southern  lion  in  his  den  "  or 
out  of  it.  But  permit  us  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  when  you  fel 
lows  struck  us  at  Gettysburg  last  year  about  this  time  you  disturbed  the  North 
ern  grizzly  in  the  bosom  of  his  interesting  family,  and  if  you  happen  to  have  a 
volume  of  natural  history  about  your  office,  and  will  consult  it,  you  will  learn 
that  while  the  grizzly  bear  is  not  so  handsome  or  graceful  as  the  lion,  and  does 
not  put  on  so  much  style,  yet  it  is  a  much  more  solemn  thing  to  disturb  him  in 
the  bosom  of  his  family  than  it  is  to  "  beard  the  lion  in  his  den,"  etc.  If  you  have 
any  doubt  about  this,  we  respectfully  refer  you  to  any  one  who  was  with  your 
Gen.  Heth  the  1st  of  July  last  year,  or  with  your  Gen.  Harry  Hays  the  evening 
of  July  2,  or  with  your  Gen.  Pickett  the  afternoon  of  July  3.  Besides,  permit 
us  to  call  your  attention  also  to  the  fact  that  while,  as  you  say,  this  is  "  the 
second  time  we  Yankees  have  bearded  the  Southern  lion  in  his  den,"  etc.,  you 
fellows  have  not  as  yet  disturbed  the  Northern  grizzly  but  once,  and  accord 
ing  to  present  appearances  are  not  likely  to  do  so  any  more ! 
With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servants, 

MANY  YANKEES  OF  THE  FIFTH  CORPS. 

This  " communication"  was  duly  directed  to  the  editor  of  the  Rich 
mond  Examiner  in  an  open  envelope,  marked  ' '  by  courtesy  of  the  Confed 
erate  picket  in  front  of  the  Avery  House  redoubt,"  etc.,  and  sent  through 
the  lines  in  the  usual  channel.  Our  pickets  gave  it  to  their  friends  in 
the  Rebel  rifle  pits  the  same  day,  and  the  latter  promised  faithfully  to  for 
ward  it  to  its  destination,  which  I  have  no  doubt  they  did,  as  they  were 
honorable  men  in  matters  of  that  kind.  We  had  no  means  of  ascertaining 
whether  it  was  published  or  not,  because,  while  frequent  readers  of  the 
Examiner  at  that  time,  we  could  not  conveniently  subscribe  for  it  regu 
larly,  and  so  missed  a  good  many  of  its  numbers.  But  the  presumption 
is  that  it  never  saw  the  light  of  the  types. 

Shortly  after  we  got  settled  down  to  the  siege  the  troops  were  paid  off. 
Old  Maj.  Sheridan  used  to  pay  the  Fifth  Corps.  He  would  always  begin 
with  the  batteries  of  the  Artillery  Brigade,  because  they  were  directly 
attached  to  corps  headquarters.  On  this  occasion  some  of  the  batteries 
still  had  their  own  guns  in  the  forts  and  redoubts,  and  could  not  be  mus 
tered  conveniently  in  the  rear  for  payment.  Among  these  were  Paddy 
Hart's  Battery  and  Rittenhouse's — then  commanded  by  Lieut.  Van  Reed  — 
who  were  on  duty  at  Fort  Sedgwick,  which  had  even  then  earned  the  nick 
name  of  "  Fort  Hell,"  from  the  almost  constant  fighting  between  its  gar 
rison  and  that  of  the  Rebel  Fort  Mahone  opposite,  known  among  the  troops 
as  "Fort  Damnation."  So,  as  Hart's  and  Van  Reed's  men  could  not 
come  to  the  rear  to  be  paid,  Maj .  Sheridan  decided  to  go  to  the  front  to 
pay  them.  Accordingly  about  daylight  one  morning  the  gallant  old  Major 
set  out  for  "Fort  Hell "  with  an  escort  of  artillerymen  from  the  camp  and 
his  greenbacks  stuffed  into  an  old  valise.  He  got  into  the  fort  through 
one  of  the  "covered  ways"  or  sunken  roads,  and  Hart's  Cannoneers  were 
mustered  for  payment.  Just  then  the  Rebels  commenced  a  furious  can 
nonade  on  Fort  Sedgwick  from  Mahone,  Rives  and  other  salients  within 
range.  Of  course  Maj.  Sheridan  "suspended  payment"  and  retired  in 


246  THE  CAXXOXEEB. 

good  order  to  the  bombproof,  where  he  was  content  to  remain  the  most  of 
the  day,  while  the  Cannoneers  had  to  go  to  their  guns.  He  succeeded  in 
paying  the  two  batteries  toward  night  after  the  cannonade  had  ceased,  but 
he  was  telling  some  of  the  officers  the  next  day  that,  "as  there  was  nothing 
in  the  regulations  requiring  troops  to  be  paid  off  under  fire,  he  did  not 
think  he  should  repeat  the  experiment."  Maj.  Sheridan's  clerk  at  this 
time  was  a  boy  about  16  or  17  years  old,  named  Jim  Young — he  was  a 
brother  of  John  Eussell  Young,  the  celebrated  journalist.  He  thought  it 
was  a  great  lark  to  be  in  Fort  Hell  during  a  bombardment,  and  would  not 
stay  in  the  bombproof,  but  insisted  on  going  out  to  the  embrasures  to  ' '  see 
the  fun. "  Fortunately  he  was  not  hit.  If  he  had  been  it  would  not  have 
been  so  agreeable  an  entertainment.  "Jim  "  —  or  rather  the  Hon.  James 
R.  Young — has  been  for  many  years  Executive  Clerk  of  the  United  States 
Senate. 

Shortly  after  we  went  into  this  camp —  it  was  Sunday,  June  26,  1864  — 
an  incident  occurred  which  illustrates  the  sly  humor  of  Mitchell.  That 
morning  we  had  got  a  big  mail,  which  contained  several  letters  for  me, 
among  which  was  a  note  from  a  schoolmate  and  neighbor  at  home,  who 
had  recently  enlisted  from  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  in  Capt.  Ed.  Rogers's  19th 
New  York  Battery.  This  battery  was  in  the  Ninth  Corps,  and  was  then 
occupying  the  salient  on  that  part  of  the  line  afterward  known  as  "Fort 
Morton,"  where,  though  only  a  week  had  elapsed  since  the  beginning  of 
the  siege,  a  formidable  work  was  already  built.  So  I  approached  Mitchell 
and  asked  for  a  pass  to  go  over  into  the  Ninth  Corps  lines  that  afternoon, 
explaining  the  case.  He  was  at  that  moment  sitting  in  the  doorway  of  his 
tent,  of  which  the  front  flaps  were  thrown  clear  back,  as  it  was  very  hot. 
He  had  one  of  those  old-fashioned,  little  looking  glasses  in  a  round  metallic 
case  hung  up  on  a  nail  on  his  tent  pole  and  was  shaving  himself  with  a 
razor,  which,  judging  from  the  expression  of  his  countenance,  wTas  very  duil. 
Upon  hearing  my  request  he  said  hesitatingly,  ' '  well,  yes,  I  will  give  you 
the  pass,  but  as  a  friend  I  would  not  advise  you  to  go  in  that  fort  at  this 
time !  " 

"Why  not,  sir?" 

' '  Well,  it  is  understood  that  the  Rebels  are  mining  that  work,  and  it 
may  be  blown  up  at  any  moment ! !  " 

The  pass  question  was  not  pressed  any  further.  Of  course  he  did  not 
want  to  give  the  pass,  and  at  the  same  time  he  did  not  like  to  refuse  point 
blank.  So  he  resorted  to  "strategy."  I  took  it  all  in  dead  earnest,  which 
was  not  to  be  wondered  at  in  view  of  his  seriousness.  But  it  has  often 
made  me  smile  since. 

Simultaneously  with  this  work  on  the  fortified  lines,  wharves  were 
being  established  at  City  Point  for  landing  provisions,  ammunition,  etc., 
and  a  railway  was  built  in  rear  of  the  lines  from  City  Point  to  the  Weldon 
Railroad  at  Globe  Tavern,  and  thence  the  Weldon  Road  was  used  as  part  of 
the  ' '  railway  system  of  the  army  ' '  down  to  the  crossing  of  the  Vaughn 
Road  near  Wyatt's  House,  from  which  point  it  was  afterward  extended 


THE  "WAR  RAILROAD."  247 

westward  as  far  as  Armstrong's  Mill,  on  Hatcher's  Run,  besides  a  branch 
extending  from  Globe  Tavern  in  the  rear  of  Fort  Wadsworth  to  the  Squirrel 
Level  Road  near  Fort  Fisher,  which,  just  before  the  final  movement,  con 
stituted  the  extreme  left  of  our  fortified  line.  So  that,  besides  constructing 
the  enormous  lines  of  works  before  described,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  also 
built  about  25  or  28  miles  of  quite  respectable  railroad  during  the  first  60 
or  90  days  of  the  great  siege. 

With  some  20-odd  years'  experience  as  a  civil  engineer,  I  would  not  in 
dorse  that  road  as  a  suitable  one  for  heavy  traffic  or  "  limited  express  " 
trains  of  Pullman  palace  cars.  The  grades  were  mainly  those  of  nature, 
and  the  ' '  road  bed  ' '  itself  was  moved  once  or  twice  in  places  which  were 
found  to  be  within  shell  range  of  some  heavy  Whitworth  or  Brooke  rifles 
that  the  enemy  got  into  position  later  on.  Some  of  the  grades  were,  there 
fore,  pretty  heavy,  and  the  locomotives  in  crawling  up  them  would  have 
to  "carry  a  good  deal  of  sand,"  but  the  fact  was  that  everybody  had  to 
have  ' '  sand ' '  in  that  vicinity  at  that  time.  That  little  railroad  was  a  huge 
factor  in  the  sum  total  of  crushing  the  rebellion. 

During  all  this  time  a  great  drouth  prevailed.  Day  after  day  the  sun 
blazed  down  on  us  through  the  longest  days  of  the  year,  without  a  cloud 
in  the  sky,  and  not  a  drop  of  rain  fell  from  the  time  we  left  Cold  Harbor, 
the  first  week  in  June,  until  after  the  Sixth  Corps  left  for  Washington  to 
attend  to  Mr.  Early,  the  middle  of  July.  All  the  swamps  and  brooks  dried 
up.  The  earth  became  a  dust  heap  for  several  inches  below  the  surface. 
In  all  the  camps  in  rear  of  the  lines  we  had  to  sink  wells3  sometimes  as 
much  as  25  feet  deep,  to  get  water.  In  our  Artillery  Brigade,  Bigelow's 
boys  sunk  a  well  which  struck  a  vein  of  cool  water  about  20  feet  down. 
They  walled  this  up  nicely  with  oak  logs,  cobhouse  fashion,  made  a  well 
curb,  rigged  a  "well  sweep  "  to  haul  the  bucket  up  with,  and  all  the  troops 
for  half  a  mile  around  used  to  patronize  the  famous  well  of  the  9th  Massa 
chusetts  Battery.  Doubtless  this  dry  weather  was  really  a  good  thing  for 
the  troops,  as  it  prevented  them  from  drinking  the  surface  water,  which 
was  always  inj  urious,  and  it  also  facilitated  the  construction  of  the  works. 
Some  of  the  veterans  who  had  dug  trenches  in  the  mud  at  Yorktown  two 
years  before  said  that  the  building  of  our  works  in  the  dry  ground  at 
Petersburg  was  a  regular  picnic  compared  with  Yorktown. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  this  time  was  at  a  low  ebb  numerically. 
The  Fifth  Corps,  which  had  crossed  the  Rapidan  about  27,000  strong  on 
the  4th  of  May,  did  not  muster  more  than  11,000  muskets  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  siege,  and  the  Second  Corps  was  even  worse  off.  Many  three 
years'  men  in  all  the  corps  had  their  times  expiring  in  June,  July  and 
August,  and  some  whole  regiments  which  had  not  ' '  veteranized  ' '  were 
mustered  out  in  bulk.  The  18th  Massachusetts  and  44th  New  York  dis 
appeared  from  Bartlett's  Brigade  at  this  time,  and  the  7th  and  19th  Indi 
ana  and  2d  Wisconsin  from  the  Iron  Brigade  —  all  of  them  regiments  of  the 
highest  distinction.  When  these  regiments  were  mustered  out  such  of 
their  men  as  still  had  some  time  to  serve  were  transferred  to  other  com- 


248  THE  CANNONEEK. 

mands.  The  2d  Wisconsin  had  a  considerable  number  of  such  men,  and 
these  were  reorganized  into  what  was  called  the  "Independent  Battalion," 
numbering  about  160  men  ;  in  fact,  the  Iron  Brigade  ceased  to  exist  under 
its  old  organization,  and  its  remaining  regiments,  the  6th  and  7th  Wis 
consin  and  24th  Michigan,  were  incorporated  with  the  remains  of  the 
"Keystone  Brigade,"  composed  entirely  of  Pennsylvania  troops,  which 
had  been  Eoy  Stone's  Brigade  at  Gettysburg,  and  the  consolidated  brigade 
was  now  commanded  by  Gen.  Bragg,  of  the  6th  Wisconsin.  This  trans 
ferring,  remodeling  and  consolidating  went  on  throughout  the  army,  so  that 
by  the  last  of  July,  1864,  you  might  say  that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
had  been  completely  reorganized. 

Eecruits  were  coming  in  all  the  time  to  all  regiments  of  the  army,  but 
they  were  mostly  conscripts  and  "big  bounty  men,"  many  of  them  young 
boys  or  old  men  who  wrould  not  have  been  looked  at  by  a  recruiting  officer 
in  1862,  or  even  in  1863 ;  substitutes,  foreigners  of  every  nationality 
brought  over  by  the  bounty -brokers  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  them  to 
"fill  quotas "  —  in  short,  a  motley  collection  of  the  odds  and  ends  of  the 
earth.  There  was  no  opportunity  whatever  to  drill  these  recruits  or 
' '  season ' '  them.  As  fast  as  they  arrived  at  City  Point  they  would  be 
herded  in  the  "bull-pen,"  a  stockade  built  near  the  landing  for  the  deten 
tion  of  squads  of  recruits  en  route  to  the  front,  and  from  there  they  would 
be  drafted  off  into  the  commands  for  which  they  had  enlisted,  and  sent  di 
rectly  into  the  trenches.  It  often  happened  that  a  regiment  or  battery  thus 
' '  recruited  up  ' '  would  not  have  more  than  enough  veterans  to  make  up  its 
list  of  uon-comuiissioned  officers.  In  the  infantry  this  did  not  make  so 
much  difference,  but  in  the  artillery  it  simply  disabled  the  battery  until 
the  new  men  could  be  broken  in.  Because,  while  raw  recruits  can  easily 
be  taught  the  manual  of  arms,  the  maiiuvers  of  a  company,  and  how  to 
load  and  fire  a  musket,  the  complicated  mechanism  of  a  battery  cannot  be 
mastered  so  easily,  but  requires  something  of  an  apprenticeship  like  learn 
ing  a  trade.  Hard  and  trying  as  the  work  was  the  army  had  to  do  at  this 
time,  and  demoralizing  as  may  have  been  the  radical  changes  in  its  per 
sonnel,  it  had  never  in  all  its  history  been  so  well  and  lavishly  fed,  clothed 
and  equipped  as  it  was  now.  The  matter  of  supplying  his  troops  had  al 
ways  been  a  strong  point  with  Gen.  Meade.  I  have  stated  in  a  previous 
chapter,  dealing  with  the  operations  immediately  after  Gettysburg,  that 
Meade's  first  care  after  driving  Lee  back  into  Virginia  was  to  thoroughly  re- 
equip,  reclothe  and  pay  his  battered,  ragged  and  poverty-stricken  troops. 
This  he  did  at  his  leisure,  while  all  the  editors  in  the  North  were  scream 
ing  at  him  and  demanding  his  removal.  Now,  with  his  army  fairly  set 
tled  down  to  the  operations  of  a  great  siege,  with  abundant  transportation, 
unlimited  supplies,  and  opportunity  to  establish  permanent  methods, 
Meade's  genius  in  the  art  of  supplying  an  army  had  full  scope.  The  James 
River  became  the  route  of  a  veritable  procession  of  steamboats,  bringing 
every  imaginable  resource  that  an  army  could  require.  The  general  depot 
at  City  Point  resembled  a  great  mart  of  commerce,  with  its  wharves,  stores* 


GEN.  MEADE'S  ENERGY.  249 

tents  and  sheds,  and  its  fleet  of  often  50  or  60  vessels  constantly  discharg 
ing  cargoes.  The  "Military  Railroad,"  which  had  by  this  time  been  com 
pleted  as  far  as  Aiken's  Crossroads,  toward  the  Weldon  Railroad,  with  a 
branch  down  the  Jerusalem  Plank  nearly  to.  Lee's  Mills,  teemed  with 
trains  cariying  every  sort  of  supplies.  The  whole  country  south  of  the 
James,  as  far  as  Prince  George  Courthouse,  was  turned  into  a  pasture  for 
vast  herds  of  cattle,  which  were  guarded  by  cavalry  and  butchered  from 
day  to  day  to  afford  fresh  meat  for  the  hard-worked  troops  in  the  forts  and 
trenches.  Huge  piles  of  baled  hay  and  oats  in  sacks  for  the  cavalry  and 
artillery  horses  lined  the  railway  or  were  accumulated  in  the  camps.  The 
camps  in  the  rear  of  the  works  became  villages.  Every  company  or  bat 
tery  had  log  cookhouses.  Every  regiment  had  a  bakery,  from  which  the 
troops  got  abundance  of  cooked  rations,  including  soft  bread  every  day, 
fresh  beef  three  or  four  days  in  the  week,  with  bean  soup  or  pea  soup  or 
dessicated  vegetable  soup,  and  coffee  and  tea  on  tap  all  the  time.  In  a 
word,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  "lived  like  fighting  cocks,"  as  the  saying 
is  ;  and  whatever  may  have  been  the  demands  on  their  strong  muscles  in 
digging  trenches,  or  upon  their  gallant  bosoms  in  battle,  there  could  be  no 
complaint  of  empty  stomachs  or  bare  backs  in  front  of  Petersburg  so  long 
as  old  Meade  was  on  hand  to  shake  up  the  Quartermasters  and  Commis 
saries  ! 

All  this  was  due  to  the  care  and  energy  of  Gen.  Meade.  They  used  to 
say  that  he  was  "slow,"  and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  but  he  certainly  fed, 
clothed  and  paid  his  troops  better  and  more  promptly  than  any  other  com 
mander  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  ever  had.  The  way  he  would  sometimes 
"  whoop-up"  his  Quartermasters  and  Commissaries  was  a  caution.  Ordi 
narily  he  was  a  somber,  taciturn  man,  but  on  occasions  —  particularly  when 
he  had  a  delinquent  Quartermaster,  Commissary  or  Wagonmaster  to  deal 
with  —  his  profanity  would  be  something  elaborate  and  artistic.  One  day  at 
the  Artillery  Brigade  headquarters  he  sent  a  message  to  the  Acting  Chief 
in  reply  to  a  complaint  that  had  been  made  about  moldy  hay  or  sprouted 
oats  in  one  of  the  shipments  of  forage  for  the  battery  horses.  The  messenger 
said  that  the  General  Commanding  would  be  at  the  Artillery  Brigade  head 
quarters  in  half  an  hour,  and  would  personally  examine  the  defective  forage  ! 
Punctually  at  the  moment  old  Meade  appeared.  He  had  some  bales  of  hay 
broken  and  some  sacks  of  oats  cut  open. 

"Well,"  sa*id  he,  "in  a  dry  time  like  this  there  can  be  no  excuse  for 
the  delivery  of  forage  in  such  a  condition.  It  may  be  well  enough,  Colonel, 
for  the  laws  of  war  to  require  the  President's  approval  to  shoot  a  deserter 

from,  the  ranks !  But,  by ,  I  think  the  Commanding  General  ought  to 

have  discretionary  power  to  hang  Quartermasters  without  benefit  of  clergy  ! ! 
Reship  that  forage  to  City  Point.  I  will  have  it  thrown  into  the  river 

there  as  soon  as  it  is  properly  receipted  for.  And,  by ,  I  would  throw 

the  distributing  Quartermaster  in  with  it  if  I  had  the  power ! ! " 

About  this  time  there  were  stories  current  in  the  ranks  that  officers  in 
the  Quartermaster  and  Commissary  Departments  high  in  rank  had  com- 


25u  THE  CANXOXEEK. 

plained  to  Gen.  Grant  of  Meade's  severity  of  language  toward  them,  and 
that  Grant  had  censured  Meade  —  or  at  least  requested  him  to  be  more 
formal  and  less  emphatic  in  his  verbal  communications  with  his  subordinates. 
I  do  not  know  that  these  rumors  were  true  ;  but  I  do  know  that  the  troops 
had  an  idea  that  old  Meade  kept  his  eye  on  the  Quartermasters  and  Com 
missaries,  and  we  all  heartily  sympathized  with  him,  for  our  experience 
under  other  commanders  had  taught  us  to  regard  our  officers  of  the  supply 
department  as  enemies  more  to  be  dreaded  than  old  Lee  or  Stonewall 
Jackson ! 

The  last  of  the  forts  on  the  original  main  line  —  Fort  Davis  —  was 
finished  about  the  middle  of  July,  and  then  the  troops  of  the  Fifth  Corps 
got  a  rest.  The  work  from  the  middle  of  July  to  the  middle  of  August  was 
simply  to  man  the  works,  for  which  purpose  one-third  of  the  men  were  told 
off  at  a  time,  so  that  they  now  got  two  days  off  duty  for  one  day  on,  instead 
of  day  on  and  day  off,  as  had  been  the  case  while  the  works  were  build 
ing. 

Cannonading  between  the  forts  went  on  more  or  less  every  day  on  some 
part  of  the  line,  but  the  infantry  fire  pretty  much  ceased  about  this  time, 
and  the  infantry  pickets  in  the  advance  rifle  pits,  which  were  in  some  places 
within  easy  speaking  distance,  got  quite  sociable.  One  day  a  young  fel 
low  named  Gorman,  belonging  to  the  sharpshooters,  was  out  in  one  of  the 
pits  a  little  to  the  right  of  our  immediate  front.  His  pit  was  on  the  edge 
of  a  little  ravine  formed  by  the  head  of  the  brook  which  ran  between  the 
two  lines,  as  before  described,  and  as  this  ravine  would  give  opportunity 
for  the  enemy  to  steal  right  up  into  our  lines,  or  for  our  men  to  steal  up  into 
theirs,  it  was  more  closely  watched  than  any  other  part,  and  so  there  were 
two  or  three  men  in  each  pit.  This  was  before  the  rifle  pits  were  connected 
so  as  to  form  a  complete  line.  The  Confederates  had  their  pits  lower  down 
the  ravine,  and  on  the  opposite  bank  of  it,  and  they  were  not  more  than 
200  feet  apart,  if  that  far.  As  daylight  came  on  Gorman  and  his  companion 
called  out  to  the  opposite  pickets : 

"  Say,  Johnny,  come  over  and  take  breakfast  with  us  !  " 
''  Can't  leave  just  now,  Yank  ;  but  why  don't  you  call  on  us?" 
"Why,  Johnny,  that  wouldn't  be  good  manners  !    You  fellows  are 
old  residenters  here,  and  we've  only  just  moved  in.     It's  your  place  to  call 
on  us  first." 

So,  after  considerable  chaffing,  they  agreed  to  meet  in  the  ravine,  half 
way.  As  this  sort  of  thing  frequently  happened,  though  forbidden  by  offi 
cers  in  command,  the  other  pickets  on  either  side  paid  but  little  attention 
to  it.  At  all  events  they  met,  exchanged  coffee,  tobacco,  etc.,  and  sat  down 
on  the  ground  at  the  bottom  of  the  ravine  for  a  talk.  Gorman  began  to 
argue  the  utter  uselessness  of  further  resistance.  He  told  the  two  Eebels 
that  Grant's  army  was  250,000  strong,  and  getting  about  2,000  recruits 
every  day.  He  said  that  the  troops  had  beefsteak  or  ham  and  eggs  for 
breakfast  every  morning,  and  roast  beef  for  dinner,  and  that  plum  pudding 
and  mince  pie  had  been  made  part  of  their  regular  ration.  He  declared 


"INDUCING  DESEKTION.''  251 

that  large  dairies  of  cows  were  kept  herded  out  on  Blackwater  Creek, 
just  in  the  rear  of  the  camps,  to  supply  the  army  with  fresh  milk,  and  a 
great  deal  more  of  the  same  sort.  This  Terry  Gorman  was  a  fat,  jolly 
Irish  boy,  with  just  a  bit  of  brogue,  and  he  could  tell  his  whoppers  with  a 
perfectly  straight  face  and  "without  batting  an  eye."  He  was  so  serious 
about  it  that  the  Johnnies,  who  were  honest  North  Carolinians  and  con 
scripts,  actually  believed  him.  They  looked  at  one  another,  and  their 
mouths  watered  when  Terry  told  them  about  the  roast  beef  and  plum  pud 
ding  and  fresh  milk.  Finally  one  of  them  said  to  the  other  : 

"Say,  John,  'pears  like  it  ain't  no  use,  sho'  miff;  don't  it?" 

"Looks  so,  Bill ;  but,  d it,  I've  bin  thinkin'  thet  way,  sort  of 

quiet  like,  ever  since  Gettysburg.  My  heart  wuz  broke  thar." 

"What  d'ye  say,  John,  to  goin'  home  with  this  yere  Yank?  He 
'pears  like  a  nice  feller. ' ' 

"All  right,  Bill;  I'm  agreed.  Say,  Yank,  will  you  be  here  arter 
dark?" 

"Yes,"  says  Terry,  "we'll  hold  this  pit  all  night." 

"Well,  now,  soon's  it's  dark,  so  thet  our  other  fellers  won't  see  us  and 
twig,  you'll  hear  somethin'  rustlin'  right  about  here.  Then  don't  say 
'halt,'  'cause  our  fellers  in  the  next  pit  might  hear  that;  but  just  cock 
your  rifle  and  let  the  lock  down  agin  twict.  We  kin  hear  the  cluck  of  the 
lock.  Then  you  lis'n  close,  and  you'll  hear  somebody  whisper  'roas'  beef.' 
That'll  be  the  countersign,  an'  then  you'll  know  it's  us." 

So  that  night,  between  9  and  10  o'clock,  Terry  came  back  into  the 
redan  with  two  gant  Johnnies  in  tow,  and  he  had  even  forgotten  that 
they  had  their  muskets  with  them. 

"What's  this?  "  inquired  Maj.  Marshall,  who  was  in  command  in  the 
redan  that  night ;  "have  you  captured  these  two  men,  or  they  you?" 

Then  the  Rebels  themselves  noticed  that  they  still  had  their  guns,  and 
laid  them  down  on  the  ground.  After  a  brief  explanation  Gorman  shook 
hands  with  the  two  Johnnies,  wished  them  good  luck  and  crawled  back  to 
his  pit.  Maj.  Marshall  gave  the  Rebels  some  supper,  and  then  spent  about 
two  hours  interrogating  them,  after  which  they  were  left  to  go  to  sleep. 
In  the  morning  they  were  sent  to  City  Point,  where,  as  they  told  us,  they 
intended  to  ship  in  our  navy,  both  being  seafaring  men  from  the  North 
Carolina  Sounds.  They  would  not  enlist  in  our  army  for  fear  of  being  re 
captured,  but  they  wanted  to  enlist  in  the  navy.  I  don't  suppose  Gor 
man  ever  got  the  "recruit  money  "  to  which  a  man  was  then  entitled  for 
"bringing  in  recruits. "  These  two  men  interested  us  very  much  by  their 
recital  of  the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  Rebel  camp.  The  stories  they  told 
of  hard  work,  incessant  fatigue,  awful  privations,  cruel  discipline,  brutal 
punishments  and  a  long  list  of  other  horrors  in  the  Rebel  army  would 
hardly  be  believed  now.  They  had  gone  on  duty  before  daylight  that 
morning,  and  their  24  hours'  rations  were  a  piece  of  green-looking  bacon 
about  the  size  of  a  man's  four  ringers  and  a  hard-baked  corn  "pone"  a. 
trifle  larger  than  a  man's  whole  hand,  together  with  a  canteen  of  water. 


252  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

How  men  could  work,  march  and  fight  as  they  did  on  such  fare  will  for 
ever  be  a  mystery  ! 

Maj.  Marshall  considered  the  information  he  got  from  these  men  valu 
able,  because  he  took  copious  notes  of  what  they  said,  particularly  with 
reference  to  the  numbers  and  dispositions  of  the  Rebel  troops  in  our  front. 
They  said  they  belonged  to  Lane's  Brigade,  of  Wilcox's  Division,  Hill's 
Corps,  and  their  regiment  was  either  the  28th  or  38th  North  Carolina.  At 
breakfast  in  the  redoubt  our  boys  vied  with  each  other  in  dividing  with 
our  guests  in  gray.  As  luck  would  have  it,  our  meat  ration  for  that  day 
was  boiled  fresh  beef  of  better  quality  than  usual,  and  as  we  had  plenty  of 
soft  bread,  and  some  of  the  boys  had  condensed  milk  for  their  coffee,  the 
Johnnies  really  believed  that  Terry  Gorman  had  been  telling  them  the 
truth  !  I  never  saw  two  men  stow  away  so  much  provender  as  they  did 
that  morning ;  and  how  they  relished  it ! 

It  was  lucky  they  struck  us  at  the  end  of  our  relief  instead  of  at  the 
beginning,  for  they  literally  cleaned  our  haversacks  of  every  crumb  !  When 
we  were  relieved  Maj.  Marshall  told  off  a  Corporal  and  two  men  to  guard 
them. 

"We  don't  need  no  guard,  Major.  Do  we,  Bill?"  said  one.  "Jess 
give  us  a  pass  for  City  Point,  Major.  We'll  git  thar." 

If  the  Rebels  could  have  known  how  methodically  and  in  what  a 
"  corne-to-stay  "  manner  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  set  about  its  tremen 
dous  task,  I  think  they  would  have  given  up  the  game  then  and  there. 
We  not  only  had  wharves  at  City  Point,  and  a  railroad  to  carry  our  sup 
plies  all  along  the  line,  and  a  vast  cattle  ranch  in  the  rear  to  furnish  fresh 
beef,  but  the  woods  out  on  the  Blackwater  were  full  of  portable  steam  saw 
mills  squaring  timber  to  be  used  in  revetting  the  works,  sawing  plank  for 
gun  platforms,  or  boards  for  building  shanties,  hospitals,  quarters,  etc. 
The  army  contained  within  itself  abundant  skilled  labor  to  meet  all  these 
requirements.  The  engineers,  firemen  and  brakemen  on  the  Military  Rail 
way,  the  engineers  and  sawyers  in  the  sawmills,  and  from  that  to  the 
"freight-handlers,"  receiving  clerks,  shipping  clerks,  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing  at  the  wharves,  were  all  enlisted  men  detailed  for  those  purposes. 
There  was  never  an  army  in  the  world  like  the  grand  old  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  History  does  not  afford  a  parallel  to  the  siege  of  Petersburg  with 
regard  to  the  amount  of  work  done,  the  extent  and  quality  of  ingenuity 
displayed,  the  volume  of  National  resources  called  into  play,  or  the  skill 
and  vigor  with  which  they  were  employed.  When  a  boy  I  had  always 
been  fond  of  reading  the  histories  of  European  wars,  but  after  Gettysburg 
and  Spottsylvania  and  Petersburg  all  that  sort  of  literature  lost  its  interest 
for  me. 

Speaking  of  the  cattle  herds  out  on  the  Blackwater,  I  got  an  opportu 
nity  to  see  something  of  them  one  day.  There  was  a  detail  to  take  out  to 
pasture  some  horses  which  had  sore  backs  or  were  lame  or  otherwise  run 
down,  and  as  there  was  no  likelihood  of  the  batteries  being  called  on  for 
field  service  for  some  time,  it  was  determined  to  ' '  turn  these  horses  out ' ' 


THE  "COWBOYS."  253 

for  a  while  in  charge  of  a  detail  of  men  who  also  ' '  needed  rest ' '  and  country 
air.  Much  to  my  regret,  I  did  not  get  on  the  detail  to  take  care  of  the 
horses,  but  as  we  took  them  pretty  well  over  into  the  ' '  cattle  ranch ' '  we  saw 
how  the  herds  were  managed.  The  cattle  were  generally  shipped  by  boat 
to  the  corral  at  Windmill  Point,  where  they  were  landed  and  put  in  charge 
of  the  herders,  who  were  all  enlisted  men  detailed  for  that  duty.  There 
was  an  "army  headquarters  herd,"  which  furnished  beef  to  all  troops  not 
attached  to  the  various  army  corps.  Then  each  corps  had  a  herd  of  its  own. 
"Whenever  cattle  were  to  be  slaughtered  to  issue  fresh  beef  rations,  which 
was  sometimes  twice  and  sometimes  three  times  a  week,  as  many  as  were 
required  would  be  ' '  cut  out ' '  of  the  herd  and  driven  over  to  the  place  of 
slaughter.  Here  they  would  be  taken  in  charge  by  butchers  detailed  from 
the  army,  and  in  a  few  hours  their  meat  would  be  seen  in  wagons  at  the 
brigade  commissary  depots.  In  very  hot  weather,  such  as  we  had  that 
Summer,  a  few  hours  would  suffice  to  make  this  meat  look  rather  blue, 
but  the  practice  was  to  boil  it  as  quickly  as  possible  in  the  big  camp  kettles 
in  water  well  salted,  and  when  so  cooked  it  would  "keep"  in  pretty  good 
condition  for  a  day  or  two. 

It  was  apparent  that  the  cattle  herders  had  a  pretty  good  time — at 
least  so  long  as  the  whole  Cavalry  Corps  was  there  to  guard  them.  But 
after  the  bulk  of  the  cavalry  was  sent  up  into  the  Valley  to  attend  to  Gen. 
Early  the  Rebel  cavalry  under  Hampton  ' '  raided ' '  our  cattle  ranch  and 
got  away  with  a  good  deal  of  the  stock,  besides  capturing  most  of  the 
herders,  who,  during  the  Fall  and  Winter  of  1864,  at  Salisbury,  Anderson- 
ville  and  other  "Southern  Winter  resorts,"  found  plenty  of  opportunity  to 
reflect  upon  what  a  soft  thing  they  had  wrhen  they  were  living  on  the  fat  of 
the  land  out  there  on  the  Blackwater. 

The  Fifth  Corps  remained  in  these  lines  from  the  end  of  the  great 
assault  on  the  18th  of  June  until  the  15th  of  August.  By  this  time  the 
men  had  got  thoroughly  rested,  and  our  thin  ranks  had  been  filled  out 
again  with  numerous  recruits  who,  if  not  equal  to  the  men  of  earlier 
periods,  as  before  stated,  could  fill  up  the  regular  space  in  a  company  align 
ment  ;  could  punish  their  rations  in  grand  style,  and,  as  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  corps  proved,  were  quite  as  capable  of  stopping  a  Rebel 
bullet  as  the  oldest  veteran  !  It  may  have  been  somewhat  more  difficult 
to  get  them  to  face  the  aforesaid  bullet  than  it  had  been  to  get  the  veterans 
to  do  so;  but,  as  we  would  say  now,  "they  got  to  Appomattox  all  the 
same!"  During  this  time  "a  day  in  the  trenches"  would  have  been 
a  picturesque  affair  to  a  novice.  In  the  forts  and  redoubts,  wherever  siege 
guns  were  mounted,  there  would  be  details  from  the  batteries  to  man  them, 
together  with  detachments  of  infantry  in  support.  In  the  curtains  con 
necting  the  redoubts  there  would  be  infantry  only,  with  pickets  in  the  out 
lying  rifle  pits.  Sometimes  these  pits  Avere  not  manned  at  all  in  the  day 
time,  but  were  occupied  at  nightfall  and  held  all  night  to  guard  against  a 
surprise.  But  in  July  it  was  tacitly  understood  that  both  armies  were 
taking  a  rest,  and  the  men  had  very  little  disposition  to  disturb  each  other. 


254 


THE  CAXXOXEER. 


The  men  used  to  lay  poles  on  top  of  the  parapet  at  one  end,  support 
ing  the  other  by  forked  sticks,  and  over  these  poles  they  would  stretch 
their  shelter  tents  or  blankets,  so  that  there  would  be  a  complete  awning 
the  whole  length  of  the  curtain.  The  infantry  parapets  were  made  high 
enough  so  that  a  man  of  average  hight  could  stand  straight  up  to  fire  through 
under  the  head  log,  and  these  were  generally  squared  timbers,  about  10  by 
10  inches,  so  that  the  cover  was  complete  and  the  men  could  move  about 
in  the  works  with  perfect  security ;  so,  as  there  was  nothing  to  do  except 
watch  against  a  possible  coup  de  main,  and  there  was  little  firing  from  the 
main  line,  at  least  in  the  daytime,  the  men  had  plenty  of  time  to  loaf, 
sleep,  read,  or  play  poker  for  Sutler's  checks,  as  suited  their  fancy.  Many 
a  sultry  day  have  I  whiled  away  under  these  extemporized  awnings,  strug 
gling  with  the  vicissitudes  of  the  ' '  fascinating  game, ' '  and  frequently  part 
ing  with  several  hard-earned  dollars  in  Sutler's  checks  or  10-cent  shinplas- 
ters.  I  recollect  a  five-handed  game  one  Sunday,  July  3,  1864,  in  which 
our  Nell  Graham  and  I  were  engaged  with  three  infantrymen  belonging  to 
one  of  Bartlett's  regiments,  83d  Pennsylvania.  There  was  a  Jack  pot  on 
the  board,  everybody  was  "  in, "  and  one  player  had  a  ' '  pat  hand. ' '  Just 
as  the  betting  began  the  Reb 
els  fired  a  shot  from  their  fort 
(Rives),  which  swept  across 
the  top  of  our  parapet,  knock" 
ing  a  big  gabion  all  to  pieces 
and  burying  our  poker  party, 
shinplasters,  Sutler's  checks 
and  all,  under  an  avalanche 
of  dirt  and  splinters  that 
came  rattling  down  on  our 
heads.  As  soon  as  we  could 
extricate  ourselves  we  pawed 
the  dirt  over  till  we  had  re 
captured  all,  or  nearly  all,  of 
the  shinplasters  and  Sutler's 
checks  in  the  pot,  put  them 
together  again,  shifted  our 
position  to  another  spot,  dealt 
the  hands  over  again  and 
played  it  out.  This  must  A  LUCKY  "DRAW." 

have  been  for  my  special  benefit,  as  I  had  only  two  small  pairs  in  the 
original  hand,  and  there  was  a  pat  hand  out  against  me.  But  in  the  hands 
as  reconstructed  I  opened  the  Jack  pot  with  two  Queens,  drew  another 
and  "got  away  with  the  cake,"  about  $2.50  worth  of  Sutler's  checks, 
shinplasters,  etc.,  all  told.  And  one  of  the  infantrymen  by  the  name  of 
Alston  declared  that,  while  he  had  heard  of  a  man  drawing  to  a  shoestring 
and  filling  his  hand  with  a  whole  tannery,  he  had  never  before  seen  a  man 
-who  could  ' '  draw  the  Rebel  fire ' '  to  help  out  a  poor  hand  !  Those  were 


WORK  OF  THE  FIFTH  CORPS.  255 

great  days  in  the  trenches !  The  stories  the  Petersburg  veterans  could  tell 
of  the  total  disregard  of  danger,  the  utter  sang  froid  under  fire,  or  the 
devil-may-care  jollity  and  tomfoolery  of  our  battered  and  rugged  veterans 
in  those  death-hanted  earthworks  would  be  thought  incredible  now,  and 
so  I  will  not  multiply  anecdotes.  The  artillerymen  had  a  somewhat  easier 
time  than  the  infantry,  because  they  did  not  have  to  take  their  turns  in 
the  rifle  pits ;  but  when  the  siege  guns  had  to  be  fired  they  had  to  get 
down  to  business  and  take  their  share  of  the  medicine. 

In  addition  to  the  four-and-oue-half-inch  Rodman  and  30-pounder 
Parrott  siege  guns  mounted  in  the  new  forts  and  redoubts  about  the  1st  of 
July  or  last  of  June,  50  or  60  mortars,  ranging  in  caliber  from  10-inch  down, 
were  distributed  along  the  line.  Most  of  these  were  on  the  Ninth  Corps 
front,  but  some  of  them  were  put  in  the  redoubts  south  of  the  Norfolk 
Railroad  and  in  Fort  Sedgwick.  These  mortars  were  generally  worked  by 
special  detachments  from  the  1st  Connecticut  Heavy  Artillery.  The  fire 
of  these  mortars  was  very  annoying  to  the  enemy,  and  they  soon  mounted 
some  mortai-s  of  their  own,  wrhich  tended  to  impair  the  desirability  of  our 
forts  as  Summer  residences.  While  the  Fifth  Corps  remained  in  these  lines 
from  the  Avery  House  front  to  the  Cheever  House  (or  Fort  Davis),  on  the 
Jerusalem  Plank,  no  one  would  now  believe  me  if  I  should  attempt  to 
summarize  even  the  enormous  work  they  did  during  those  two  months. 

I  suppose  the  corps  had  an  average  of  11,000  to  12,000  enlisted  men 
present  for  duty  during  that  period.  These  men  built  three  miles  of  the 
most  elaborate  and  massive  siege  works  known  to  military  history.  They 
moved  many  million  cubic  yards  of  earth.  They  cut  many  million  feet  of 
timber,  which  they  fashioned  into  revetments  for  the  faces  of  the  works, 
into  gabions  to  crown  the  parapet,  into  platforms  for  the  heavy  guns,  into 
postern-gates  and  draw-bridges  for  some  of  the  heaviest  forts ;  and,  in  ad 
dition  to  all  this,  they  built  their  share  of  the  ' '  Military  Railroad, ' '  cleared 
ground  for  camps  of  the  most  regular  and  elaborate  description,  dug  deep 
wells  for  water  —  and  a  thousand  of  other  things  of  toil— all  under  the 
broiling  sun  and  brazen  sky  of  the  hottest,  driest  Summer  that  was  ever 
known  in  Virginia. 

The  operations  of  the  great  mine  were  carried  on  by  the  Ninth  Corps 
directly  in  front  of  Fort  Morton  during  this  time.  As  I  never  saw  any 
thing  of  it  personally,  and  as  it  has  been  elaborately  described  by  more 
capable  pens,  I  shall  not  attempt  any  extended  comment  upon  it.  Of  course 
efforts  were  made  to  keep  this  mine  a  profound  secret ;  but  soldiers  will 
talk,  and  so,  long  before  July  31,  it  was  well  known  all  along  our  lines 
that  the  mine  was  being  driven,  and  its  exact  location  was  known  to  many 
of  the  troops.  It  would  have  been  pretty  hard  to  keep  an  operation  like 
that  concealed  from  the  sharp  eyes  and  inquiring  minds  of  the  veterans  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  that  time. 

On  the  night  of  Aug.  15  the  Fifth  Corps  was  drawn  out  of  its  lines, 
being  relieved  by  an  extension  of  the  Ninth  Corps  to  the  left,  and 
moved  by  back  roads  way  round  near  Lee's  Mill,  and  thence  across  the 


256  THE  CAXXONEEK. 

country  to  the  Weldon  Railroad,  which  they  struck  at  and  below  Globe 
Tavern  early  in  the  morning  of  Aug.  18.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
second  epoch  of  the  siege.  It  resulted  in  desperate  battles  about  Globe 
Tavern  on  the  18th,  20th  and  21st,  in  which  the  Fifth  Corps,  and  at  Ream's 
Station  on  the  25th,  in  which  the  Second  Corps,  bore  the  brunt,  and  the  suc 
cess  of  the  movement  extended  our  left  to  the  Weldon  Railroad,  and  per 
manently  cut  that  Rebel  line  of  supply. 

During  these  battles  one  of  our  men,  Horace  Ellis,  greatly  distinguished 
himself.  I  think  it  was  in  the  first  assault  on  the  Rebel  intrenchments 
covering  the  railroad  below  Globe  Tavern,  Aug.  18.  Horace  had  served 
with  the  Battery  about  a  year,  joining  it  about  the  time  I  did,  or  a  little 
before!  He  had  been  with  it  at  Chancellorsville  and  Gettysburg,  and  had 
made  a  fine  record.  He  was  a  detached  man  from  the  7th  Wisconsin,  and 
when  that  regiment  veteranized  in  the  Winter  of  1863-64,  he  was  tempted 
by  the  Orderly  Sergeantcy  of  his  old  company  to  leave  the  Battery.  Every 
body  was  sorry  to  lose  him,  as  he  was  a  noble  fellow,  and  one  of  our  very 
best  men  in  every  respect.  There  were  many  of  us  who  did  not  consider 
it  a  promotion  at  all  for  a  Cannoneer  in  the  Battery  to  become  an  Orderly 
Sergeant  in  infantry  ;  but  I  presume  Horace  expected  a  commission  before 
long,  and  so  he  went.  His  exploit  at  the  Weldon  Railroad  was  taking  the 
colors  of  the  16th  Mississippi  right  out  of  their  trenches  in  the  assault,  and 
bringing  the  color  bearer  with  them  clean  over  the  parapet  and  into  our 
lines  by  the  hair  of  the  head.  Of  course  I  did  not  witness  this,  but  know 
that  the  story  as  told  by  his  comrades  was  true,  because  it  will  be  found 
mentioned  in  the  official  reports  when  published,  and  he  received  the  medal 
of  honor.  I  do  not  know  whether  Horace  ever  got  a  commission,  but  the 
best  of  my  recollection  is  that  he  did  not. 

The  result  of  these  operations  from  the  18th  to  the  25th  of  August 
was  to  prolong  our  main  line  from  the  Jerusalem  Plank  at  the  Cheever 
House  to  Globe  Tavern,  and  thence  down  along  the  Weldon  Railroad  to 
the  "White  House,"  where  Fort  Dushane  wras  built  —  named  after  Col. 
Dushane,  who  was  killed  there  in  command  of  the  Maryland  Brigade. 
The  Ninth  Corps  was  now  left  in  charge  of  the  whole  old  main  line  from 
the  river  to  the  Jerusalem  Plank,  and  the  Fifth  and  Second  Corps  held 
from  the  Plank  to  the  Globe  Tavern.  This  extended  line  was  intrenched 
during  the  remainder  of  August  and  September,  though  not  quite  sa 
heavily  as  the  old  main  line.  But  it  was  a  very  strong  line.  Its  length 
was  about  three-and-a-half  miles  on  the  front,  from  Fort  Davis  to  Fort 
Wadsworth,  a  mile  and  a  half  along  the  railroad,  from  Wadsworth  to  Fort 
Dushane,  and  the  reverse  works  extended  from  Dushane  back  to  the  Jeru 
salem  Plank  near  "Finn's  House,"  a  distance  of  about  four  miles.  The 
front  line  embraced  Forts  Hays,  Howard,  Wadsworth  and  Dushane,  with 
several  redoubts,  and  there  were  four  or  five  small  forts  in  the  reverse  line, 
and  one  that  was  quite  large  —  Fort  Stevenson.  These  works  were  built 
in  the  same  manner  as  those  hitherto  described,  but  as  they  were  generally 
at  a  much  greater  distance  from  the  enemy's  works  than  the  old  main  line 


SKILL  OF  OUR  MEX.  257 

was,  and  we  always  kept  a  strong  picket  line  well  out  in  front  of  the  work 
ing  parties,  it  was  by  no  means  so  perilous.  The  Military  Eailroad  was 
extended  to  connect  with  the  Weldon  line  at  Globe  Tavern  as  rapidly  as 
the  covering  works  were  completed,  the  Fifth  Corps  made  new  camps,  and 
the  routine  went  on  about  as  before  until  October.  In  the  latter  part  of 
that  month  a  strong  movement  was  made  by  portions  of  the  Second,  Fifth 
and  Ninth  Corps  to  extend  our  left,  with  a  view  of  completely  encircling 
Petersburg  south  of  the  river  and  cutting  the  South  Side  Eoad.  This 
operation  resulted  in  the  battles  of  the  Boydton  Road,  Burgess's  Mill  and 
Hatcher's  Run,  and  to  hold  the  ground  thus  gained  our  main  lines  were 
extended  about  three  miles  west  of  Fort  Wadsworth,  terminating  in  the 
tremendous  works  of  which  Fort  Fisher  was  the  key,  and  which  inclosed 
altogether  nearly  a  mile  square.  This  was  the  last  extension  of  our  main 
line,  though  numerous  fieldworks  were  thrown  up  from  time  to  time  away 
out  to  the  left,  reaching,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Appomattox  campaign, 
as  far  to  the  westward  as  the  Boydton  Plank  Road,  and  to  the  Vaughn 
Road  on  the  south.  During  the  Fall  of  1864  and  Winter  of  1864-65  the 
Artillery  Brigade  was  comfortably  camped  near  Fort  Dushane,  and  its  duties 
were  similar  to  those  previously  described  in  the  Old  Lines.  As  Winter 
came  on  log  huts  were  built,  and  the  troops  took  as  much  comfort  as  the 
severity  of  their  duties  would  admit.  That  Winter  was  colder  than  usual 
in  that  climate,  but  there  was  not  a  great  deal  of  snow,  and  altogether  the 
season  was  not  unfavorable,  though  the  occasional  cold  rains  were  pretty 
trying. 

Among  the  curiosities  of  the  skill  of  our  men  was  a  good-sized  chapel 
or  small  church,  which  the  Engineer  troops  built  near  Meade's  headquar 
ters.  This  was  in  the  Gothic  style,  and  was  constructed  entirely  of  poles 
with  the  bark  on,  placed  vertically  like  a  "battened"  house.  It  was  a 
fine  piece  of  work,  and  the  Engineers  took  great  pride  in  it.  I  have  been 
told  that  the  colored  people  of  that  region  used  it  as  a  place  for  their  sim 
ple  worship  after  the  war.  The  great  signal  tower  near  Fort  Fisher  was 
another  monument  of  the  skill  and  industry  of  our  troops.  I  do  not  now 
recollect  its  hight,  but  it  commanded  the  country  for  miles  around,  and 
from  its  summit  every  movement  of  the  Confederate  troops  in  their  lines 
or  in  the  city,  and  away  up  toward  Richmond,  could  be  distinctly  observed. 
Most  of  the  men  who  did  this  marvelous  work  and  suffered  these  unexam 
pled  toils  are  gone  now.  Of  the  fortifications  themselves,  only  the  rounded 
outlines  and  half-filled  ditches,  rank  with  weeds  and  grass  or  growing  full 
of  small  brush,  with  crumbling  parapets  full  of  rotting  logs,  remain 
now  to  tell  the  story  of  what  our  soldiers  did  and  dared  and  suffered.  But 
their  fame  can  never  decay  —  their  glory  cannot  fade  ! 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  exposures,  fatigues,  privations  and  other 
and  nameless  horrors  of  that  Virginia  campaign,  I  wish  to  say  one  thing 
for  the  old  Battery,  and  that  is  that  when  it  camped  in  front  of  Petersburg 
and  settled  down  to  the  great  siege  there  was  not  one  "army  gray  back  " 
in  the  seams  of  the  clothes  of  any  man  in  its  ranks !  This,  to  veterans  of 
17 


258 


THE  CANNONEER. 


that  unique  campaign,  may  seem  incredible,  but  it  was  a  fact.  Whatever 
our  boys  suffered,  or  how  they  stood  up  to  be  killed  or  mangled  in  battle, 
this  much  must  be  said  of  them,  they  kept  themselves  clean  and  tidy. 
One  day  not  very  long  ago,  while  "fighting  our  battles  over,"  at  the  Army 
and  Navy  Club  in  Washington,  with  Comrades  George  Deering,  a  soldier 
in  the  16th  Maine,  and  now  Paymaster  in  the  Navy;  Robert  G.  Carter,  a 
soldier  in  the  22d  Massachusetts,  and  now  Lieutenant  of  the  4th  Regular 


"HAD  THEM  DRAWN  UP  FOR  INSPECTION." 

Cavalry,  retired,  and  others,  I  made  this  statement.  All  of  them  had  been 
through  that  campaign,  and  they  said  that  they  couldn't  stand  anything 
like  that ;  they  declared  that  when  Brigadier-Generals  had  inhabitants  in 
the  seams  of  their  undergarments  it  would  be  the  hardest  kind  of  cheek 
for  an  enlisted  man  to  deny  the  impeachment  — ' '  even  if  he  was  in  Stew 
art's  Battery  !  "  So  I  said,  "wouldn't  you  believe  the  Captain  himself  on 
that  subject?"  They  all  agreed  that  they  would  believe  any  statement 


A  QUESTION  OF  PRIDE.  259 

Stewart  might  make,  or  at  least  they  would  be  satisfied  that  he  believed 
it  himself,  conscientiously,  to  be  true.  So  I  wrote  these  things  to  him  and 
this  is  his  reply  : 

In  regard  to  any  of  the  men  being  infested  with  insects,  on  which  subject 
you  invoke  my  testimony,  I  am  satisfied  that  there  never  was  a  case  in  the 
Battery  of  that  kind.  I  well  remember  ordering-  some  of  the  recruits  to  be 
taken  down  to  the  creek  and  scrubbed  (of  which  you  speak),  but  that  was 
simply  because  of  their  not  having  washed  themselves.  When  the  squad  of 
recruits  from  the  New  York  heavy  artillery  regiments  were  sent  to  me  at 
Petersburg  in  July,  1864,  the  Battery  at  that  time  occupied  Fort  Hell.  When 
the  men  reported  I  had  them  drawn  up  for  inspection,  with  their  knapsacks 
on  the  ground,  and  had  the  knapsacks  opened.  I  found  that  scarcely  any  of 
the  men  had  a  change  of  underclothing.  I  told  First  Serg't  McBride  to  keep 
them  from  the  rest  of  our  men,  and  I  had  the  ordnance  wagon  hitched  up  and, 
mounting  my  horse,  started  for  City  Point.  When  I  got  there  I  went  to  the 
Sanitary  Commission  and  also  to  the  Christian  Commission,  and  to  them  I  stated 
the  condition  these  men  were  in.  I  told  them  that  I  had  made  a  requisition 
for  such  clothing  as  they  required,  but  that  it  would  be  several  days  before  I 
could  get  it,  and  in  the  meantime  they  could  be  of  no  use  to  me,  as  I  could  not 
allow  them  to  mix  with  my  men.  I  had  given  orders  before  I  started  to  have 
these  men's  hair  cut  and  the  men  themselves  thoroughly  washed.  Both  of  the 
Commissions  that  I  called  upon  acted  at  once  upon  my  request  and  gave  me 
one  undershirt,  one  pair  of  drawers,  one  pair  of  socks  for  every  man ;  also 
quite  a  number  of  pairs  of  shoes,  two  five-gallon  kegs  of  pickles,  five  gallons 
of  lime  juice  and,  if  I  remember  correctly,  about  50  pounds  of  tobacco.  With 
these  supplies  I  got  back  to  my  caisson  camp  the  same  afternoon  and  issued 
the  supplies,  and  found  that  Serg't  McBride  had  made  quite  different  looking 
men  of  them.  The  Sergeant  when  I  got  back  told  me  a  little  incident  which 
impressed  me  with  the  privations  they  had  undergone.  He  said  when  the  din 
ner  bugle  sounded  the  men  were  very  much  astonished  to  find  they  were  going 
to  have  soup  for  dinner ;  they  told  Serg't  McBride  that  they  never  had  had  any 
soup  from  the  time  they  had  left  the  fortifications  around  Washington,  and 
that  was  over  two  months.  You  can  safely  say  that  we  never  had  any  lousy 
men  in  the  Battery. 

The  Captain  might  have  added  that  such  of  the  old  boys  as  happened 
to  have  more  than  one  complete  change  of  underclothes  also  divided  their 
surplus  among  these  poor  recruits.  In  my  own  case,  I  had  three  suits  of 
fine  merino  underwear,  which  mother  had  sent  to  nie,  and  they  must  have 
cost  in  those  days  of  high  prices  at  least  $7  or  $8  a  suit.  I  gave  one  suit 
of  this  to  one  of  those  recruits,  and  he  was  very  grateful  for  it. 

The  Engineers  were  a  very  important  body  of  troops  in  these  opera 
tions.  They  consisted  of  the  Regular  Engineer  Battalion,  Capt.  George 
Mendell,  about  400  strong,  and  the  15th  and  50th  New  York  Engineers, 
composing  what  was  known  as  the  Volunteer  Engineer  Brigade,  under  Gen. 
Henry  W.  Benham.  A  member  of  the  Regular  Engineer  Battalion,  Com 
rade  Gilbert  Thompson,  a  topographical  draftsman,  says : 

The  Regular  Engineers  were  essentially  made  up  of  volunteers,  as  there 
was  but  one  company  (A)  of  about  60  men  in  the  Spring  of  1861.  Two  new  com 
panies  were  created,  so  by  Jan.  1, 1862,  there  were  over  400  men  in  line,  and  any 
one  who  has  followed  the  Cannoneer  through  his  experiences  as  a  detached 
volunteer  in  a  Regular  battery  can  appreciate  how  the  "  old  Regular  Sappers 
and  Miners"  made  Regulars  of  these  350  volunteers.  I  will  say  that  the  story 


260  THE  CAXXOXEEK, 

of  the  old  Regular  soldier  in  1860  and  1861  is  one  of  the  greatest  glories  of  the 
American  army,  and  I  trust  it  may  be  sometime  put  on  record. 

The  battalion,  for  similar  reasons,  could  not  be  kept  up  at  full  strength  by 
even  transfers  from  the  volunteer  troops,  and  they  were  as  good  if  not  the 
best  men  ever  in  the  Engineer  troops.  They  were  seasoned  old  fighters.  Some 
from  the  8th  Michigan  were  splendid  men ;  all  of  them  were  adopted  right  in 
and  made  to  feel  that  they  were  "  Regulars." 

When  the  investment  — this  is  the  right  word,  not  siege  — of  Petersburg 
began  the  Engineer  troops  were  out  night  and  day,  the  temporary  fieldworks 
gave  place  to  an  extensive  line  of  rifle-pit  batteries  and  forts,  some  of  the 
latter  of  immense  size  and  strength.  I  was  in  the  battalion  from  Yorktown 
to  Petersburg,  inclusive,  and  it  was  not  uncommon  for  a  non-commissioned 
officer  to  have  from  800  to  1,200  men  under  his  charge  during  a  night's  work. 
But  for  all  this,  I  have  felt  that,  in  spite  of  all  our  duty  performed,  if  we  could 
have  been  in  one  square  fight,  so  as  to  have  had  a  chance  to  "show  up"  for 
once,  we  would  be  thought  of  in  a  more  appreciative  way  by  the  fighting  men. 
We  made  scaling  ladders,  and  expected  to  be  called  upon  for  a  "  forlorn  hope  " 
at  Yorktown.  Some  of  the  men  under  Capt.  C.  E.  Cross,  while  destroying  a 
corduroy  bridge  on  the  Chickahominy,  June  28, 1862,  did  drop  some  of  Jackson's 
advance.  We  were  in  line  supporting  a  battery  at  Antietam,  also  at  the  Wil 
derness,  Spottsylvania,  Guinea  Bridge  and  Hatcher's  Run,  but  as  an  organiza 
tion  never  made  or  repulsed  an  attack,  fired  either  a  volley  or  at  will ;  but  we 
were  fired  at  anyway,  did  our  duty,  and  went  where  we  were  told  to  go.  In 
Mexico  Company  A  was  mixed  up  in  a  fight  every  time,  and  was  in  the  attack 
at  Contreras,  Churubusco,  Molino  del  Rey,  Chapultepec  and  the  City  of  Mexico, 
leading  the  storming  party  in  some  of  these  engagements.  Of  course  it  is  rea 
sonable  to  see  that  it  would  be  as  great  foolishness,  except  in  an  emergency,  to 
use  up  Engineer  troops  in  any  engagement  as  to  put  in  the  Signal  Corps  or  any 
specially  trained  men.  But  for  all  that,  let  me  say  that  we  felt  at  times  as 
though  we  ought  to  go  in  anyhow. 

The  Volunteer  Engineers  from  New  York  were  made  np  mainly  of  rail 
road  hands  and  mechanics.  The  50th  was  raised  principally  along  the  line  of 
the  Erie  Railway  and  in  southwestern  New  York.  The  15th  was  recruited 
in  the  central  and  eastern  parts  of  the  State.  In  field  campaigns  both  the 
Eegular  and  volunteer  battalions  were  employed  superintending  the  con 
struction  of  bridges,  repairing  railways  for  the  use  of  the  army  and  kin 
dred  employments.  The  only  time  I  ever  knew  them  to  be  in  action  was 
in  the  "Wilderness,  where  Gen.  Warren  put  them  in  temporarily  to  fill  a 
gap,  and  they  fought  there  as  well  as  any  troops  could.  But  when  Gen. 
Meade  heard  of  it  he  ordered  that  they  should  not  be  put  in  line  of  battle 
any  more,  as  they  could  not  easily  be  replaced  if  cut  up.  Consequently 
they  were  not  much  employed  during  the  rest  of  that  campaign  till  we  got 
to  the  James  River,  where  their  exploit  of  building  the  great  pontoon 
bridge  at  Windmill  Point  —  about  a  mile  long  —  in  one  night  stands  to 
their  credit  without  rival  in  military  history. 

Comrade  John  T.  Davidson,  Captain  of  Company  H,  50th  New  York 
Engineers,  furnishes  an  entertaining  description  of  the  "little  church." 

The  50th  was  noted  for  its  engineering  and  mechanical  skill,  and  while  it 
could  not  lay  a  bridge  across  a  stream  or  build  corduroy  roads  to  keep  the  army 
from  going  through  the  mud  into  China  any  better  than  the  15th,  without  in 
tending  to  reflect  in  the  least  upon  the  15th,  because  it  was  an  excellent  regi 
ment,  still  it  was  an  admitted  fact  that  the  50th  contained  many  more  skilled 


THE  Pious  EXGINEERS. 


261 


mechanics  and  civil  engineers  than  did  the  15th.  The  brigade  had  shops  in 
Washington,  where  at  least  one  company  always  remained,  for  building  new 
pontoons  and  the  paraphernalia  thereunto  belonging,  and,  if  my  recollection 
is  correct,  such  company  was  always  taken  from  the  50th  during  the  entire 
war.  The  50th  was  noted  for  its  beautifully  laid  out  camps  and  pleasant  quar 
ters,  thereby  making  soldier  life  as  agreeable  and  home-like  as  possible. 

It  also  had  an  eye  to  its 
spiritual  welfare,  and  hence  the 
erection  of  a  church  for  the 
accommodation  of  all  whose 
minds  were  religiously  in 
clined.  Capt.  M.  H.  McGrath, 
of  Company  F  of  the  50th,  was 
a  carpenter  and  joiner  by  trade, 
and  to  him  was  given  the  honor 
of  constructing  the  church  in 
question.  He  was  the  archi 
tect,  and  "bossed"  the  job. 
Whether  his  mind  towered  as 
high  toward  the  heavenly  king 
dom  as  did  the  spire  which  he 
projected  and  erected,  is  not 
generally  known  to  the  rest  of 
mankind.  Having  a  photo  of 
the  edifice  as  it  was  when  fin 
ished,  I  propose  to  give  a  cut 
of  it  to  the  readers  of  "The 
Cannoneer."  The  badge  of 
the  Engineer  Brigade  was  a 
"castle,"  and  by  close  exami 
nation  this  badge  will  be  found 
worked  in  the  front,  and  about 
the  center  of  the  second  story 
of  the  "steeple"  from  the 
ground.  It  will  not  be  difficult 
for  any  one  to  discover  at  a 


glance  that  the  architecture  of 
this  place  of  worship  is  neat 
THE  CHURCH  MADE  or  POLES.  and  tasty,  and  was  a  credit  not 

only  to  the  regiment,  but  especially  to  the  man  who  "bossed  the  job."  Maj. 
McGrath  has  been  a  resident  of  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  nearly  all  of  the  time  since  the 
close  of  the  war.  The  church  near  Gen.  Meade's  headquarters  is  not  the  only 
monument  of  his  skill  and  enterprise.  Indeed,  he  has  always  been  counted  as 
one  of  the  best  mechanics  in  this  section  of  the  State,  and  has  erected  many 
monuments  of  this  character,  but  his  poor  health  and  years  are  now  creeping 
over  him  to  such  an  extent  as  to  render  him  unfit  to  perform  but  little,  if  any, 
manual  labor.  The  72d  mile  stone  of  his  life  having  been  passed,  and  now  de 
pending  mainly  upon  a  small  pension  for  the  support  of  himself  and  aged  wife, 
he  is  patiently  waiting  for  the  time  to  come  when  the  last  pontoon  will  be  laid 
and  he  and  his  be  safely  landed  iipon  the  golden  shore,  from  whence  no  trav 
eler  ever  returns.  The  only  wish  of  his  comrades  is  that  the  old  Major  may 
live  long,  prosper  and  be  happy. 


CHAPTER  X. 

DETAILED  AT  ORDNANCE  WHARF  —  ATTACHED  TO  MCKNIGHT'S  BAT 
TERY—SIXTH  CORPS  GOES  TO  WASHINGTON  — EELIEF  OF  THE 
CAPITAL— BIDWELL'S  BRIGADE  FIGHTS  A  SMALL  BATTLE  FOR 
41  OLD  ABE"  — EARLY  DRIVEN  AWAY  — MARCH  TO  THE  VAL 
LEY—SHERIDAN  TAKES  COMMAND  —  BATTLE  OF  OPEQUAN  — 
FISHER'S  HILL  — ROUT  OF  EARLY'S  ARMY. 

Y  share  in  the  siege  of  Petersburg  was 
brief.  On  the  7th  of  July  an  order 
came  to  detail  a  man  who  could  keep 
accounts  for  ordnance  duty  at  the 
Ammunition  Wharf  at  City  Point. 
This  detail  fell  to  me,  by  the  grace  of 
Mitchell.  I  believe  the  Old  Man 
>^  winced  a  little  at  this  proposition,  be 
cause  I  had  been  on  "soft  duty"  the 
whole  Winter  previous,  from  Oct. 
10,  1863,  to  April  10,  1864  — a  clean 
stretch  of  six  months  —  and  had  now  been  only  three  months  with  the  Bat 
tery.  But  what  months  they  were  !  Embracing  the  Wilderness,  Spott- 
sylvania,  North  Anna,  Bethesda  Church,  Cold  Harbor  and  the  assaults  on 
Petersburg ! !  Anyhow,  Mitchell  had  his  way,  as  usual.  I  reported  promptly 
to  the  wharf,  and  was  assigned  as  "Acting  Ordnance  Corporal "  to  the  duty 
of  tallying  the  deliveries  of  ammunition  as  it  was  unloaded  from  the 
boats,  and  also  checking  off  the  issues  to  the  corps  ammunition  trains. 

Artillerymen  were  preferred  for  this  work,  as  they  were  more  ac 
customed  to  the  handling  and  care  of  ammunition  in  large  quantities  than 
infantry  or  cavalrymen  were.  Arriving  at  City  Point  we  found  squads  from 
the  artillery  brigades  of  the  different  corps  and  also  from  the  reserve,  the 
whole  forming  a  working  force  under  the  Chief  Ordnance  Officer  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac.  This  would  have  been  pleasant  duty,  but  before  we  had 
got  fairly  settled  down  an  order  came  to  draft  off  about  80  men  to  reinforce 
some  of  the  batteries  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  which  was  under  orders  to  embark 
for  Washington  at  once.  The  Division  of  Gen.  Ricketts,  of  the  Sixth  Corps, 
had  sailed  for  Baltimore  several  days  before,  and  some  of  the  batteries  of 
the  corps  had  gone  with  it.  I  do  not  know  what  became  of  those  batteries 
afterward,  as  they  never  joined  Sheridan's  army  in  the  Valley.  Perhaps 
they  went  back  to  Petersburg.  The  batteries  that  embarked  with  Russell's 
and  Getty's  Divisions  for  Washington  direct  were  McKnight's  Regulars 


THE  AUTHOR  "CONSCRIPTED."  263 

(M,  5th  Regulars,)  and  McCartney's  1st  Massachusetts;  Van  Etten's  1st 
New  York,  which  had  been  Cowan's  Battery  at  Gettysburg,  and  was  in  the 
vortex  of  Pickett's  charge  there ;  Adam's  and  Lamb's  Rhode  Island  Bat 
teries,  and  Greenleaf  Stevens's  Old  5th  Maine,  which  had  been  comrades 
with  us  in  the  old  First  Corps  at  Gettysburg  and  elsewhere. 

These  batteries  had  been  much  reduced  by  the  Wilderness  and  Spott- 
sylvania  campaign,  and  also  by  muster  out  of  the  three-year  men  who  had 
not  re-enlisted  ;  and  as  it  was  probable  that  the  campaign  against  Early 
would  be  in  Northern  Virginia  or  Maryland,  where  there  would  be  plenty 
of  work  for  artillery,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  reinforce  them  to  full 
strength.  Ordinarily  when  the  batteries  were  to  be  reinforced  in  this 
manner  the  custom  was  to  detach  men  from  infantry  regiments  in  the 
corps  or  divisions  to  which  they  belonged.  But  on  this  occasion,  no  doubt 
because  they  were  expected  to  go  immediately  into  action  at  or  about 
Washington,  so  there  would  be  no  opportunity  for  the  infantrymen  to  learn 
artillery  drill,  the  reinforcements  were  drafted  from  the  artillerymen  on 
duty  at  City  Point,  which  really  was  much  more  sensible  than  to  detach 
infantrymen,  who  in  that  sort  of  emergency  might  easily  have  to  go  into 
action  as  artillerymen  without  a  single  opportunity  for  battery  drill.  The 
artillerymen  at  the  wharf  were  mustered,  and  Capt.  James  McKnight,  of 
Battery  M,  5th  Regulars,  accompanied  by  his  First  Lieutenant,  Henry 
M.  Baldwin,  and  two  or  three  other  officers,  came  along  the  line.  Capt. 
McKnight  was  Acting  Chief  of  Artillery  for  that  part  of  the  Sixth  Corps, 
Col.  Tompkins  being  on  duty  elsewhere.  There  may  have  been  150  or  160 
artillerymen  in  that  muster,  and  of  course  being  detailed  at  the  rate  of  one 
or  two  from  nearly  all  the  batteries  in  the  army  they  were  literally  a 
"select  lot."  Capt.  McKnight' s  eyes  glistened  as  he  surveyed  the  line  — 
all  stalwart  young  fellows,  clean,  trim  and  well  set  up,  and  every  one  a 
veteran  !  How  Gen.  Gibbon  and  Stewart  would  have  liked  to  pick  a  rein 
forcement  out  of  that  line !  There  was  no  volunteering  about  this  business. 
It  was  a  case  of  "conscription."  In  the  old  days,  when  the  artillery  offi 
cers  used  to  get  recruits  out  of  the  infantry  regiments,  the  men  had  a 
choice  in  the  matter.  But  here  it  wTas  simply  "step  out ! "  So  when  they 
came  to  my  place  in  the  line  Capt.  McKnight  surveyed  me  from  foot  to 
head,  and  when  his  eyes  rested  on  my  cap  lie  said,  "4  —  B;  that  is  Stewart's 
Battery.  Step  out !  I  want  you ! ! "  which  goes  to  show  that  a  "reputa 
tion  ' '  is  sometimes  inconvenient.  The  work  of  drafting  off  the  required 
number  of  men  was  quickly  done,  and  they  were  ordered  to  report  at  once 
with  whatever  accouterments  they  had  to  the  new  wharf  below  Gen.  Grant's 
headquarters,  which  was  about  a  mile  from  the  ammunition  wharf.  Arriv 
ing  here  they  at  once  began  to  distribute  us  among  the  various  batteries 
which  needed  men. 

Stevens  did  not  need  any  men,  McCartney  and  Van  Etten  only  about 
eight  or  10  each,  so  there  were  about  60  to  distribute  between  McKnight, 
Adams  and  Lamb.  I  had  taken  a  fancy  to  Capt.  McKnight  and  his  First 
Lieutenant,  Henry  M.  Baldwin,  who  reminded  me  very  much  of  our  Lieut. 


264  THE  CANNONEER. 

Davison,  crippled  at  Gettysburg ;  and  so,  partly  on  this  account  and  partly 
because  Battery  M  was  the  only  Regular  battery  with  the  brigade,  I  re 
quested  Capt.  McKnight  to  assign  me  to  it.  Then  he  said  to  Lieut.  Bald 
win,  "Take  care  of  this  boy,  Henry."  Baldwin  took  me  in  hand,  and 
asked  me  whether  I  was  Driver  or  Cannoneer.  I  told  him  that  I  had  been 
both,  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  had  once  or  twice  acted  as  Gunner  tempo 
rarily,  so  that  I  would  prefer  being  put  on  a  gun,  if  convenient,  and  that 
most  of  my  experience  in  action  had  been  in  the  "breech  numbers ; "  that 
is,  Nos.  3  and  4.  So  he  assigned  me  to  be  No.  3  in  his  center  section.  I 
was  delighted  with  Lieut.  Baldwin.  After  the  boat  got  under  way  he  went 
round  among  his  new  men,  talked  with  all  of  them,  ascertained  their  pre 
vious  records,  and  had  some  agreeable  thing  to  say  to  every  one  of  them. 
To  me  he  said  that  he  should  expect  a  great  deal  from  a  boy  hailing  from 
Stewart's  Battery,  saying  that,  while  the  two  batteries  had  never  served  in 
the  same  corps  together,  he  had  often  met  Stewart,  and  also  Mitchell,  and 
considered  that  any  man  who  had  had  the  benefit  of  their  training  must 
be  a  good  one.  The  Sergeant  of  our  gun,  Daniel  Yoder,  was  a  jolly,  good- 
natured  "Pennsylvania  Dutchman"  from  Reading,  Pa.,  and  I  lost  no 
time  in  making  friends  with  him.  Yoder  was  a  trump,  as  will  appear 
later  on.  I  speak  of  him  as  a  "Pennsylvania  Dutchman,"  but  he  was 
really  a  thorough  American,  his  family  having  been  in  this  country  for 
several  generations.  My  subsequent  experience  confirmed  my  first  impres 
sions  of  him.  He  was  one  of  the  best  natured,  most  generous  and  bravest 
men  that  I  have  ever  known.  That  "4 — B  "  on  the  cross  cannons  of  my 
cap  was  a  ' '  letter  of  introduction, ' '  good  anywhere  in  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  Everybody  in  the  Sixth  Corps  seemed  to  know  the  old  Battery 
quite  as  well  as  it  was  known  in  the  First  or  Fifth  Corps ;  and  when,  upon 
circulating  around  among  the  detached  men,  I  found  myself  its  only  repre 
sentative  in  the  Sixth  Corps  Artillery  Brigade,  I  felt  very  large.  The  trip 
from  City  Point  to  Washington  was  an  agreeable  diversion  from  the  march 
ing,  fighting  and  fort  building  of  the  last  three  months.  My  first  impres 
sions  of  Battery  M  were  very  pleasant,  and  all  the  experience  of  the  ensuing 
four  months  increased  those  impressions.  It  was  a  beautiful  battery  in 
every  respect.  Its  officers  were  all  kind  hearted  and  good  natured,  its 
non-commissioned  officers,  without  exception,  fine,  manly  types  of  the 
American  soldier,  and  its  Cannoneers  and  Drivers  were  "thoroughbreds" 
in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

Battery  M  as  an  organization  needs  no  eulogy  beyond  the  statement 
that  it  served  with  the  old  Fourth  Corps  in  the  Peninsular  campaign,  and 
from  that  to  the  end  of  Sheridan's  campaign  in  the  Valley  with  the  Sixth 
Corps,  when,  having  been  almost  totally  cut  to  pieces  at  Cedar  Creek,  it 
did  not  return  with  the  Sixth  Corps  to  Petersburg,  but  was  left  at  Camp 
Barry  to  recruit  its  shattered  ranks.  It  had  at  this  time  (July,  1864,)  some 
detached  volunteers,  as  all  Regular  batteries  had,  but  its  proportion  of 
' '  Old  Regulars ' '  was  much  larger  than  usual.  Nearly  all  its  men,  whether 
Regulars  or  volunteers,  were  Permsylvanians  or  Jerseymeu.  A  fine  spirit 


ROSTER  OF  BATTERY  M. 


265 


of  comradeship  prevailed  among  the  men,  and  the  officers  were  everything 
that  could  be  desired.  Capt.  McKuight  and  Lieut.  Baldwin  had  been  ap 
pointed  to  the  Regular  army  from  civil  life  upon  the  organization  of  the 
5th  Artillery,  in  1861,  and  Lieut.  Robinson  had  been  promoted  from  the 
ranks  at  the  instance  of  Gen.  McDowell,  with  w^hom  he  had  served  as  Clerk 
or  Private  Secretary.  Robinson  had  been  a  Sergeant  in  Griffin's  Battery 
(D),  of  the  5th  Regulars,  before  Gen.  McDowell  employed  him  as  Private 
Secretary.  McKuight  was  a  Civil  Engineer  of  distinction  before  the  war, 
and  Baldwin  was  a  graduate  of  the  Kentucky  Military  Institute,  where  he 
had  been  a  classmate  of  Gen.  H.  V.  Boynton,  now  a  famous  journalist. 
All  three  of  them  are  dead  now  —  Baldwin  and  Robinson  from  wounds  re 
ceived  at  Cedar  Creek,  and  McKnight  from  the  effects  of  wounds  in  sev 
eral  battles. 

The  roll  of  Battery  M,  of  the  5th  Regulars,  when  it  embarked  for 
Washington  in  July,  1864,  was  as  follows  : 

Captain,  James  McKnight. 

First  Lieutenant,  Emory  Upton,  detached,  Brigadier-General  of  volunteers. 
First  Lieutenant,  Valentine  H.  Stone,  detached,  commanding  another  battery. 
Lieutenants— Henry  M.  Baldwin,  Privates— John  Berringer, 


Frederick  D.  Robinson. 
Orderly  Sergeant— Jack  Davidson. 
Sergeants— Philip  Weidner, 

William  Beckhardt, 
Daniel  Yoder, 
Joe  Gerhardt. 
Frederick  Yolkman. 
Corporals— William  H.  Kennedy, 
Charley  Knorr, 
William  Morton. 
John  Wesley, 
John  Miller, 
George  Hussey. 
Buglers— William  Bowman, 
Ernest  Hartmanu. 
Privates— Louis  Bachman, 
Lorenzo  Berger, 
Charles  Bourquin, 
Samuel  Book  waiter, 
William  Cuthbert, 
Thomas  Collins, 
Washington  Dengler, 
Jacob  Darmahower, 
Jacob  Drayer, 
Levi  Engelhardt, 
John  Fahrenbach, 
Richard  Fisher, 
Samuel  Gamier, 
Peter  Gerome, 
Jerry  Gerrish, 
Conse  Gresser, 
Oliver  Himei'hitz, 
Bill  Hopkins, 
Jacob  Humniell, 


Louis  Blumenroth, 
Martin  Boyer, 
Valentine  Bush, 
Edward  Clewell, 
Eben  Davis, 
George  Delaney, 
Merritt  Downer, 
Erastus  Day, 
Albert  Eyrich, 
George  W.  Fingland, 
Dave  Fox, 
John  Gechter, 
Peter  Glass, 
Jacob  Gabriel, 
David  Hoffman, 
Augustus  Hoffman, 
Alvin  Hubbard, 
Israel  Hummell, 
Carl  Hartmann, 
William  Kline, 
David  Lessing, 
Charley  Le  Van, 
Anthony  Magee, 
John  Mullan, 
Henry  C.  O'Neill, 
Henry  Rausch, 
Charles  Reigel, 
Henry  L.  Ryder, 
William  Schilling, 
Jacob  Schroeder, 
William  Shappell, 
Jacob  Shipman, 
John  Sweitzer, 
Charles  Schild, 


266  THE  CANNONEER. 

Privates— Israel  Hartmann,  Privates —John  Signer, 

John  C.  Hall,  Daniel  Smeck, 

Godfrey  Kropp,  William  Trayner, 

William  Lessing,  Chris.  Volkman, 

Lewis  Leib,  Martin  Wicklifle, 

Frederick  Miller,  John  Seaman, 

Martin  Nadel,  William  Small, 

Albert  Price,  Henry  Snyder, 

Israel  Rausch,  Edward  Van  Bruhl, 

Levi  Rodenburg,  John  Weidner, 

Henry  Rothenberg,  Augustus  Yost, 
William  Ziegler. 

MEN  ATTACHED  BY  SPECIAL,  ORDER. 

Ordnance  Corporals—  Privates  —John  Cox, 

Dan'l  Glazier  (acting),  James  M.  Watley, 

Charles  Seaton,  William  H.  Wheeler. 

William  Murphy,  James  H.  Rittenhouser 

The  Author  (acting).  Joseph  Stephens, 

Privates— Marvin  Barbour,  George  McGee, 

John  H.  Carroll,  Edward  Callahan, 

Charles  Creamer,  Henry  Holmes, 

Patrick  F.  Hunt,  Daniel  W.  House, 

Jesse  Hyde,  Ben  F.  Keyser, 

Augustus  Patterson. 

Of  the  above-mentioned  men  several  belonging  to  the  original  strength) 
of  the  Battery,  perhaps  six  or  seven,  were  absent  and  did  not  go  to  Wash 
ington.  The  total  number  actually  present  on  board  the  boat,  including 
"the  conscripts,"  as  they  called  those  "drafted  "  at  City  Point,  was  three 
officers  and  about  107  men.  This  was  a  fair  complement  at  that  time  for  a 
six-gun  battery,  and  every  man  was  a  veteran  artilleryman.  (It  is  proper 
to  state  that  the  six  batteries  which  went  with  the  Sixth  Corps  to  the  Valley 
in  July,  1864,  were  raised  to  the  full  equipment  of  six  guns  each,  except 
one  of  the  Rhode  Island  batteries,  all  the  other  corps  batteries  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  having  had  only  four  guns  since  May  17.)  Many  of  these 
men  on  the  original  strength  of  the  Battery  had  come  out  with  Capt. 
McKnight  when  he  brought  his  old  militia  battery,  called  the  "  Ringgold 
Artillery, ' '  from  Reading  in  the  three  months'  service  in  May,  1861,  and  they 
had  re-enlisted  for  the  war  when  his  Battery  was  merged  in  the  5th  Regu 
lars  at  the  special  request  of  Gen.  McDowell.  It  is  worth  while  to  re 
mark  that  McKnight's  old  "Ringgold  Artillery"  was  the  first  battery  of 
volunteers  to  reach  Washington  in  1861.  It  also  has  the  distinction  of 
being  the  only  militia  organization  that  was  ever  transferred  bodily  to  the 
Regular  Army.  It  may  have  been  forgotten,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  Battery 
M,  of  the  5th  Regulars,  is  really  the  old  "  Ringgold  Artillery  "  of  Reading. 
Capt.  Stewart,  in  a  recent  letter  to  me,  has  this  to  say  of  Capt.  McKnight 
and  his  Battery : 

I  knew  Maj.  McKnight  well,  and  a  more  thorough,  conscientious  officer  and 
high-toned  gentleman  never  entered  the  army.  His  old  battery  from  Reading 
Pa.,  was  the  very  first  to  reach  Washington  after  Lincoln's  first  call  for  troops, 
and  I  have  been  told  by  Gen.  Gibbon  that  Gen.  McDowell,  seeing  his  worth  as 
an  artillery  officer,  persuaded  him  to  accept  a  Captaincy  in  the  5th  Artillery ,, 


TRIP  TO  WASHINGTON.  267 

which  was  then  being  organized,  he  leaving  a  lucrative  profession  because  he 
thought  the  country  needed  his  services.  His  old  militia  battery  from  Reading 
was  called  the  Ringgold  Artillery,  and  did  excellent  service  during  the  war  as 
Battery  M,  of  the  5th  Regulars.  After  the  surrender  he  resigned  and  went  to 
his  home  to  resume  his  profession. 

Capt.  McKnight  was  perfectly  devoted  to  his  Battery.  Several  times 
he  declined  promotion  which  would  have  separated  him  from  it.  On  one 
occasion  his  devotion  to  his  Battery  was  subjected  to  a  test.  This  was  the 
10th  of  May,  at  Spottsylvania,  when  Gen.  Upton  made  his  great  assault. 
Upton  was  McKnight's  First  Lieutenant  in  the  Regular  Army,  though 
Brigadier-General  of  volunteers  and  commanding  the  assaulting  column. 
He  had  asked  for  two  batteries  to  report  to  him,  and  the  commanding  offi 
cer  sent  Kimball's  4th  Maine  and  McKnight's  5th  Regulars.  When  Upton 
went  to  dispose  the  batteries  he  said  to  Capt.  McKnight  that  he  was  sur 
prised  that  Gen.  Wright  should  have  made  such  an  assignment,  because  he 
(Upton)  was  only  his  (McKnight's)  Lieutenant,  and  there  were  plenty  of 
other  batteries  which  could  have  been  sent  to  him.  Capt.  McKnight  re 
plied  :  "  This  is  no  time  for  questions  of  precedence,  Upton  !  Let  me  have 
your  orders.  Tell  me  what  to  do  ! ! "  That  was  the  kind  of  soldier  that 
James  McKnight  was.  From  the  Teutonic  sound  of  many  names  of  the 
men  it  might  be  inferred  that  it  was  a  "German  Battery."  But  those 
men  with  German-sounding  names  were  native  Americans  for  generations 
—  "Pennsylvania  Dutchmen" — all  stalwart,  powerful  fellows,  bronzed 
and  rugged  from  many  campaigns,  good  natured,  jolly  and  generous,  and, 
when  it  came  to  fighting,  as  will  soon  be  perceived,  they  were  stayers  from 
away  back. 

The  trip  from  City  Point  to  Washington  was  uneventful.  Our  boat 
had  only  artillery  on  board,  and  so  we  had  a  very  quiet  time.  But  the 
next  boat  was  loaded  with  some  of  Upton's  Brigade,  of  Russell's  Infantry 
Division  (First  Division,  Sixth  Corps),  embracing  the  121st  New  York  and 
the  96th  Pennsylvania.  Shortly  after  we  got  under  way  these  troops  got 
to  quarreling  about  the  space  assigned  them  on  the  boat,  and  from  that  a 
fight  ensued,  which  came  near  being  a  regular  riot.  One  of  them  was 
knocked  overboard,  but  he  was  a  good  swimmer,  and  was  rescued  from  a 
watery  grave. 

It  was  wonderful  how  quick  the  troops  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
would  reason  out  the  meaning  of  the  army  movement.  As  our  old  paddle- 
wheel  steamboat  floundered  along  toward  Washington  the  boys  would  sit 
or  lie  down  around  the  deck  and  plan  out  the  campaign  for  which  we  were 
destined.  We  had  no  news  and  no  knowledge  except  the  rumors  that 
Early,  with  a  considerable  force  of  all  arms,  had  been  detached  from  Lee's 
army  and  had  invaded  Maryland,  wiping  out  our  garrisons  in  the  Sheuan- 
doah  Valley  as  he  went  along.  It  was  known  to  us  in  a  general  and  in 
definite  way  that  he  was  threatening  Washington,  and  every  one  of  us 
hoped  that  we  might,  as  turned  out  to  be  the  case,  get  there  just  in  time  to 
save  the  Capital.  Everybody  hoped  that  the  old  Sixth  Corps  would  get  an 


268 


THE  CANNONEER. 


opportunity  to  fight  a  great  battle  within  sight  of  the  dome  of  the  Capitol 
Building  and  under  the  eye  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  So  with  these  discussions, 
interspersed  with  occasional  frolicking  and  little  games  of  poker  between 
times  of  duty,  we  whiled  away  the  long  trip  down  the  James  and  up  the 
Bay  and  the  Potomac  from  City  Point  to  Washington.  I  had  always 
cherished  a  profound  admiration  for  the  Sixth  Corps,  and  the  opportunity 
of  sharing  its  glorious  history  in  such  a  splendid  battery  as  McKnight's 
quite  reconciled  me  to  the  abrupt  termination  of  my  "  soft  snap"  at  the 
ammunition  wharf.  I  had  not  been  in  the  Sixth  Corps  a  week  before  I 
was  as  proud  of  the  "  Old  Greek  Cross  "  as  if  I  had  worn  it  all  my  life. 

The  infantry  of  the  Sixth  Corps  was  much  reduced  at  this  time,  the 
First  Division  (Russell's)  having  not  more  than  4,000  muskets  in  its  three 
brigades,  the  Second  (Getty's)  about  4,200  and  the  Third  (Ricketts's) 
alx>ut  4, 000.  In  other  words,  the  corps  was  not  above  12, 000  strong,  which, 
with  the  usual  deductions,  meant  that  it  could  put  about  11,000  muskets 
in  line  of  battle.  The  six  batteries  had  between  650  and  700  men  present 
for  duty.  Ricketts's  Division  had  sailed  for  Baltimore  nearly  a  week 
before  Gen.  Wright  embarked  for  Washington  with  the  other  two  divisions 

and  the  batteries.  Ricketts 
also  took  with  him  what  was 
termed  a  ' '  Provisional  Bri 
gade,"  made  up  of  odds  and 
ends  of  dismounted  cavalry, 
convalescents,  etc.,  which  had 
gathered  in  what  we  used  to 
call  "Condemned  Camp." 
This  "  Provisional  Brigade  " 
was  a  motley  crowd,  as  many 
as  30  or  40  different  regiments 
from  a  dozen  or  more  differ 
ent  States  being  represented 
in  it. 

Reaching  Washington,  we 
landed  at  once  and  moved  out 
toward  Silver  Springs.  We 
marched  first  up  Sixth  and 
Seventh  streets,  and  our  Bat 
tery  halted  in  Sixth  street, 
near  Judiciary  Square.  The 
regular  Guidon  being  absent 
sick,  Lieut.  Baldwin  had  assigned  rne  as  Lance  Guidon  that  morning, 
which  was  a  high  compliment  considering  the  short  time  I  had  been  in  the 
Battery.  When  we  halted  in  Sixth  street  a  great  number  of  women  and 
girls  gathered  about  the  Battery,  and  seeing  me  with  a  little  flag  cavorting 
•about  on  my  pretty  mare  and  putting  on  more  style  than  an  Adjutant- 


OUR  RECEPTION. 


POPULAR  RECEPTIONS.  269 

General,  they  thought  maybe  that  I  commanded  the  Battery.  The  infantry 
of  Russell's  Division  had  disembarked  lower  down,  and  were  moving  out  by 
other  roads,  so  our  halt  here  was  for  instructions  as  to  co-operation  with 
them.  As  the  day  was  very  hot  we  stood  at  ease,  and  got  in  the  shade  as 
much  as  we  could.  Battery  M  presented  a  beautiful  picture.  It  had  been 
newly  equipped  just  before  leaving  Petersburg.  Nearly  all  the  men  had 
new  clothing,  and  they  were  as  fine  a  lot  of  young  fellows  as  you  could  see 
in  a  whole  County.  I  don't  suppose  the  girls,  accustomed  at  they  were 
to  soldiers,  had  ever  seen  anything  quite  as  pretty  as  Battery  M.  The 
place  where  we  halted  in  Sixth  street  was  from  D  to  F  streets,  so  that  the 
center  of  our  column  was  abreast  of  Secretary  Chase's  house,  on  the 
corner  of  Sixth  and  E.  Among  the  ladies  who  came  out  to  greet  the  Bat 
tery  was  Miss  Katharine  Chase,  then  a  young  lady  in  the  early  prime  of  a 
beauty  famous  all  over  the  world.  She  was  accompanied  by  perhaps  20 
other  girls,  and  they  moved  about  among  the  guns  saying  pretty  things  to 
the  boys  and  fastening  roses  in  the  buttonholes  of  their  jackets.  Among 
our  visitors  was  a  matronly  lady,  who  came  up  to  me  as  I  dismounted  and 
led  my  little  mare  under  the  shade  of  a  tree.  She  asked  my  name,  where  I 
was  from,  wanted  to  know  about  my  mother  and  said  many  other  pleasant 
things. 

Receiving  orders  to  advance,  we  moved  out  Sixth  street  to  the  Boun 
dary,  and  thence  to  the  top  of  the  hill  on  Seventh  street,  where  Howard 
University  is  now,  and  halted  again.  All  around  this  place  was  a  "Con 
traband  Camp"  of  colored  people  who  had  escaped  from  slavery.  Many 
of  the  men  of  this  camp  were  employed  building  the  forts,  and  some  of 
them  had  enlisted  in  the  various  negro  regiments ;  but  the  camp  was  full 
of  colored  women  and  children,  and  they  gave  us  a  reception  also,  not  so 
elegant  but  quite  as  impressive  as  the  other.  Nearly  all  these  poor  people 
had  experienced  the  horrors  of  slavery,  and  the  freedom  they  had  found 
in  that  old  contraband  camp  was  a  joy  of  new  birth  to  them.  They  had 
heard  that  Early 's  army  was  coming,  and  in  a  vague  way  they  realized  the 
defenseless  condition  of  the  Capital.  They  had  also  heard  that  the  "Sixth 
Corps  was  coming,"  for  those  magic  words  of  good  cheer  had  been  trem 
bling  on  every  loyal  lip  in  Washington  for  two  days.  To  the  poor  refugees 
the  advent  of  Early 's  army  was  the  synonym  for  a  return  to  bondage,  and 
therefore  in  their  simple  minds  the  Sixth  Corps  was  a  veritable  host  of 
deliverance. 

There  was  one  old  "Aunty,"  black  as  the  ace  of  clubs,  and  so  old  that 
her  wool  made  a  "white  border"  for  her  ebony  face,  who  came  up  to  me 
as  I  sat  on  my  mare  by  the  roadside  waiting  for  the  bugle  to  sound.  By 
this  time  the  leading  brigade  of  the  Second  Division  (Bidwell's  Brigade) 
had  begun  to  file  out  on  the  road  and  its  regiments  were  then  passing  the 
Battery— the  7th  Maine,  61st  Pennsylvania  and  43d,  45th,  77th  and  122d 
New  York — and  the  Vermonters  were  closely  following.  It  is  useless  to 
attempt  a  description  of  those  troops.  No  one  who  did  not  see  them  can 
even  faintly  appreciate  their  appearance,  no  matter  how  vivid  the  descrip- 


270 


THE  CANXOXEEB. 


tion !  Stalwart  forms ;  rugged,  swarthy  faces,  tanned  by  many  a  hot  sun 
and  blackened  by  many  a  battle  smoke;  their  "baggage"  tied  up  in 
blankets  rolled  round  their  shoulders,  dusty  haversacks,  old  canteens,  bat 
tered  cartridge-boxes  filled  until  the  covers  wouldn't  shut  down ;  bright 
rifles  at  "right  or  left  shoulder  shift;"  their  gray  socks  pulled  up  over 
their  trousers  legs  and  their  stout  shoes  sounding  a  steady  "tramp, 
tramp,"  to  the  beat  of  the  bass  drum  as  they  trudged  along  the  hard 


"THANK  GOD  FOH  DE  Six'  Co'!" 

macadam  road !  When  this  poor  old  ' '  Aunty ' '  saw  those  iron-clad  vet 
erans  filing  past  she  came  to  me  by  the  side  of  the  road  and  asked,  in  a 
voice  quivering  with  emotion : 

"Young  Mostah,  Honey,  is  you  all  de  Six'  Co'?" 

"Yes,  Aunty,  we  are  the  Sixth  Corps.-" 

"Fo,  God,  Mostah,  Honey,  how  bu'ful  yo'  all  is!  "We's  safe  now. 
All  night  long  an'  yistiddy  we's  been  skeered  'bout  dern  dar  malishus  troops 
dat  wuz  in  de  fort,  'cause  eberybody  said  dey  couldn't  stan'  agin  Moss 
Jubal's  ole  Eebel  sogers  ef  dey  kum  in.  But  de  Six'  Co'  am  pow'ful  dif- 


COMPLIMENTS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT.  271 

frunt!  Praise  de  good  an'  merciful  Lawd  fob  de  Six'  Co'!"  And  then 
the  old  Aunty  knelt  down  right  in  the  dust  and  the  hot  sun  in  front  of  the 
Battery  and  with  hands  stretched  aloft  and  eyes  streaming  offered  up  a 
prayer  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  the  Almighty  for  ' '  Massa  Linkuni, 
Freedom  and  de  Six'  Co'!" 

It  was  a  great  day  for  the  chivalric  Bid  well  and  his  invincible  brigade  — 
to  be  selected  for  the  head  of  column,  to  go  forth  to  battle  under  the  eye  of 
"Father  Abraham"  himself,  in  plain  sight  of  the  dome  of  the  Capitol,  and 
under  the  shadow  of  the  emblem  of  that  Universal  Freedom  for  whose  de 
fense  they  were  in  arms ! 

Without  further  incident  we  moved  rapidly  out  the  Seventh-street 
Road  and  went  into  battery  on  high  ground  to  the  left  of  Fort  Stevens,  where 
we  stood  at  a  ready  and  witnessed  a  sharp  skirmish  between  Bid  well's 
Brigade  and  some  of  Rodes's  Division.  President  Lincoln  witnessed  this 
skirmish,  and  it  was  the  first  and  only  time  he  ever  actually  saw  the  smoke 
of  Rebel  powder. 

When  the  Battery  reached  Fort  Stevens  Mr.  Lincoln  was  sitting  in  a 
barouche  with  Secretary  Stanton,  and,  I  think,  Judge  Advocate-Gen.  Holt. 
Gen.  Wright  was  on  horseback  by  the  side  of  the  carriage,  and  he  ' '  ordered ' ' 
the  President  to  have  the  carriage  moved  to  one  side  to  make  way  for  the 
Battery.  Mr.  Lincoln  immediately  recognized  Capt.  McKnight,  called 
him  to  the  carriage  and  cordially  greeted  him. 

One  of  the  things  he  said  to  Capt.  McKnight  was,  "Captain,  you  are 
quite  as  welcome  now  as  you  were  three  years  ago  last  May,  when  you 
came  down  here  to  help  us  with  your  Ringgold  Artillery." 

"Thank  you  Mr.  President,"  replied  Capt.  McKnight,  "permit  me  to 
say  that  about  30  of  the  men  with  me  now  were  with  me  then." 

"They  are  noble  men,  Captain,"  responded  Mr.  Lincoln,  "and  I  want 
you  to  give  them  my  most  affectionate  regards.  I  wish  I  could  take  the 
hand  of  every  one  of  them  personally  ! " 

After  Bid  well  deployed  and  got  in  action  we  went  in  battery  on  the 
knoll  to  the  left  of  Fort  Stevens,  got  out  ammunition,  stood  by  to  load 
and  waited  for  the  enemy  to  develop  his  main  line.  Meantime  Mr. 
Lincoln  got  out  of  his  carriage  and  went  with  Gen.  Wright  into  the  fort, 
where  they  stood  up  on  the  parapet  until  a  Surgeon  standing  near  the 
President  was  hit  in  the  knee  by  one  of  Rodes's  Sharpshooters,  when  Gen. 
Wright  peremptorily  ordered  Mr.  Lincoln  to  get  down,  which  he  smilingly 
obeyed.  It  was  said  that  Mr.  Lincoln  remarked  to  Gen.  Wright  that,  "as 
Constitutional  Coniniander-in-Chief,  he  thought  he  had  a  right  at  least  to 
watch  a  battle  fought  by  his  own  troops,"  and  that  the  General  retorted 
that  "there  was  nothing  in  the  Constitution  authorizing  the  Constitutional 
Cominander-in-Chief  to  expose  himself  to  the  enemy's  fire  where  he  could 
do  no  good  ! "  But  I  had  no  means  of  verifying  this  "camp  story." 

Comrade  George  W.  Keyes,  a  Sergeant  of  the  150th  Ohio,  a  100-day 
regiment  called  to  the  defense  of  Washington  in  that  emergency,  was  in 
garrison  at  Fort  Stevens  that  day,  and  he  writes  to  me  as  follows : 


272 


THE  CANNONEER, 


Yes,  Lincoln  was  there,  and  Staiiton  too.  I  was  Sergeant  in  charge  of  the 
party  that  burned  the  dwelling  outside  of  the  fort.  While  we  were  waiting 
for  the  order  to  fire  the  house  President  Lincoln  and  a  Surgeon  and  others 
stood  on  the  parapet  watching  the  Rebels  come  over  the  hill  from  Blair's  place 
till  the  bullets  began  to  fly  lively.  We  could  not  bear  to  see  President  Lincoln 
risk  his  life  in  that  way,  so  we  urged  him  to  get  down.  A  moment  later  the 
Surgeon  got  a  bulletin  his  leg,  and  the  rampart  was  cleared  in  a  hurry-  One 
of  the  Rebels  who  was  captured  said  that  with  their  fieldglasses  they  could  see 
the  President  from  the  cupola  of  the  Carberry  House,  in  the  valley,  and  that 


"CAPTAIN,  YOU  ABE  WELCOME!" 

they  fired  at  him.  Fortunately  they  missed  him.  I  have  often  thought  that 
it  was  fortunate  that  Early  did  not  know  how  defenseless  Washington  was  the 
night  before,  or  he  would  have  gone  right  into  the  city.  There  were  only  two 
companies  of  us  100-days  men  in  Fort  Stevens.  I  tell  you  we  were  mighty 
glad  to  see  those  veterans  of  the  Sixth  Corps  file  by  about  noon  that  day.  We 
were  well  drilled  in  heavy  artillery,  but  so  few  that  we  could  have  offered  but 
little  resistance  to  Early's  veterans. 


MARCH  TO  THE  VALLEY.  273 

I  might  add  to  Comrade  Keyes's  interesting  comment  that  when  Bat 
tery  M  went  in  battery  there  on  our  left  on  the  Seventh-street  Road,  on  the 
high  ground  about  80  rods  northwest  from  Fort  Stevens,  I  presume  we  had 
the  honor  of  being  the  only  light  battery  which  ever  "  unlimbered  for  busi 
ness"  under  the  eye  of  Old  Abe  Lincoln  himself!  Gen.  Wright  and  Gen. 
Lewis  A.  Grant  have  informed  me  personally  that  many  of  the  stories  told 
about  Mr.  Lincoln's  "  military  experience  "  at  Fort  Stevens  were  apoch- 
ryphal,  but  that  the  statements  of  Comrade  Keyes  are  substantially  cor 
rect. 

The  advent  of  the  Sixth  Corps  put  a  quick  and  eternal  end  to  Early 's 
hopes  of  capturing  Washington,  and  he  fell  back  to  Rockville  as  rapidly  as 
he  had  come.  We  followed  him,  crossed  the  Potomac  at  Poolsville,  and  from 
there  struck  out  for  the  Valley  by  way  of  Leesburg.  On  the  19th  or  20th 
of  July  we  came  to  Snicker's  Ferry,  where  the  West  Virginia  Division  — 
or  Eighth  Corps — under  Crook,  had  had  a  right  the  day  before.  Some  of 
us  went  and  looked  over  the  field.  The  dead — about  200  —  lay  where 
they  fell.  I  remember  thinking  that  if  I  ever  had  to  die  in  battle  I 
wanted  it  to  be  in  some  big  affair  that  would  be  immortal  in  history,  and 
have  some  name  more  euphonious  than  ' '  Snicker's  Ferry. ' '  I  said  to  Corp'l 
Kennedy,  who  was  with  me  : 

"  Bill,  it  is  pretty  tough  to  be  killed  and  left  for  buzzards  in  a 

skirmish  like  this ! " 

"Well,"  says  he,  ' '  if  you  are  killed,  what's  the  difference  ?" 

* '  Oh, "  says  I,  "it's  this  :  now,  suppose  you  had  to  be  killed,  but  were 
allowed  to  take  your  choice  of  battles,  which  one  would  you  select?" 

"In  that  case,  B ,"  he  said,  "I  would  choose  the  first  battle  after 

the  war." 

So  I  had  nothing  to  do  but  agree  with  him. 

By  the  way,  at  this  time  there  was  really  brutal  neglect  about  burying 
the  dead.  In  the  earlier  battles  we  used  to  have  flags  of  truce,  when  nec 
essary,  to  bring  in  the  wounded  and  bury  the  dead,  but  in  1864  we  used 
to  lie  down  near  each  other  and  shovel  and  shoot,  while  the  poor  wounded 
were  dying  and  the  happier  dead  were  swelling  up  and  rotting  in  the  hot 
sun  between  us. 

We  did  not  advance  beyond  this  place,  but  the  next  day  faced  about 
and  made  two  or  three  days'  march  back  to  Washington  in  clouds  of  dust, 
and  on  July  24  or  25  camped  near  Teiiallytxwn,  with  the  understanding 
that  we  were  to  embark  for  Petersburg  the  next  day.  These  marches  and 
countermarches  were  very  severe,  the  weather  being  the  hottest  I  have  ever 
known,  before  or  since,  the  roads  ankle  deep  with  dust,  and  no  relief  from 
the  heat  night  or  day.  It  was  astonishing  how  few  men  fell  out  of  ranks 
in  the  Sixth  Corps  during  this  terrible  season  of  toil  and  privation.  Truly 
they  were  men  of  iron.  We  did  not  embark  as  expected,  but  lay  in  this 
camp  several  days,  during  which  there  was  plenty  of  the  customary  diver 
sions  of  the  Sixth  Corps.  I  had  always  thought  that  the  old  First  and  the 
Fifth  Corps  were  sufficiently  "tough,"  as  far  as  fighting  among  the  men 
18 


274  THE  CANNONEER. 

was  concerned.  But  a  few  days'  service  in  the  ' '  Bloody  Old  Sixth ' '  con 
vinced  me  that  the  First  and  Fifth  were  Sunday  schools  by  comparison. 
The  Sixth  Corps  men  were  always  fighting.  The  Artillery  Brigade  was 
comparatively  peaceable,  but  there  were  feuds  in  that,  notably  between 
McCartney's  1st  Massachusetts  and  the  two  Khode  Island  Batteries. 
McKnight's  Battery,  manned  mainly  by  good-natured  Pennsylvania  Dutch 
men,  was  the  most  pacific  organization  in  the  Corps,  but  even  they  shared 
the  combative  spirit  of  the  command  and  took  their  share  in  the  "scrap 
ping.  ' '  The  toughest  crowd  in  the  whole  Sixth  Corps  was  the  old  Vermont 
Brigade.  Every  one  of  those  regiments  had  a  number  of  big,  stalwart, 
raw-boned  "Green  Mountain"  bruisers,  and  they  used  to  travel  on  their 
muscle  everywhere.  The  96th  Pennsylvania,  made  up  of  miners  from  the 
Lackawanna ;  the  102d,  composed  largely  of  Pittsburg  iron  molders  ;  the 
121st  New  York  ("Upton's  Regulars"),  sturdy  Mohawk  Valley  farmer 
boys ;  the  122d,  salt  boilers  from  Onondaga  and  farmers  from  Cayuga ; 
the  Irish  65th  ;  the  Green  Bay  lumbermen,  of  the  5th  Wisconsin,  and  the 
Kennebec  and  Penobscot  lumbermen,  of  the  5th,  6th  and  7th  Maine,  all 
these  made  up  about  as  ' '  hard  a  crowd  "  as  could  be  found  anywhere  under 
the  folds  of  the  Star  Spangled  Banner.  Those  fellows  were  in  the  army 
to  fight,  and  it  made  but  little  difference  to  them  what  sort  of  fighting  it 
was. 

After  inspection  the  Sunday  morning  before  we  left  the  Tenallytown 
camp  to  return  to  the  Valley  I  noticed  some  very  mysterious  conferences 
between  Serg't  Charley  Wilcox,  of  one  of  the  volunteer  batteries ; 
Corp'l  Bateman,  of  Battery  E ;  Pat  Hunt,  of  ours,  and  several  infantry 
men  of  the  Vermont  and  Wheaton's  Brigades.  As  soon  as  the  "prelimi 
naries  ' '  were  completed  some  of  the  ' '  Rhodies ' '  got  out  a  coil  of  spare 
picket  rope  and  started  down  toward  the  valley  of  Rock  Creek  in  rear  of 
the  camp  of  Getty's  Division,  and  then  Pat  informed  me  that  a  prize  fight 
was  on  between  Charley  Austin,  of  the  Vermont  Brigade,  and  a  man 
named  Purcell,  from  one  of  the  Pennsylvania  regiments  in  Wheaton's 
Brigade,  catch-weight,  for  a  purse  of  $500,  made  up  by  subscription.  Austin 
belonged,  I  think,  to  the  1st  Vermont  Heavy,  though  he  had  sailed  two  or 
three  whaling  voyages  out  of  New  Bedford.  Purcell  was  a  Pittsburg  iron 
molder,  and  my  recollection  is  that  he  was  from  Col.  Jim  Patchell's  102d 
Pennsylvania,  though  I  won't  be  sure  about  that.  At  any  rate,  he  was 
tough  enough  to  be  a  member  of  that  regiment !  The  Rhode  Islanders 
pitched  the  ring  on  a  small  level  plat  of  ground  near  Rock  Creek,  a  short 
distance  below  Blagden's  old  mill,  and  Austin  and  Purcell  "shied  their 
castors ' '  a  little  before  noon  the  last  Sunday  in  July,  1864.  Austin  was 
seconded  by  one  of  his  infantry  comrades  and  Pat  Hunt,  of  our  Battery, 
while  Corp'l  Bateman,  of  the  artillery,  and  a  Pittsburg  comrade  groomed 
Purcell.  The  referee  was  Serg't  Wilcox,  of  one  of  the  batteries.  Nearly 
1,000  spectators  were  at  the  ring  side,  among  whom  were  several  officers, 
who,  in  parade  uniform,  would  have  worn  eagles  on  their  shoulder-straps, 
and  one  who  was  entitled  to  wear  a  star.  But,  of  course,  they  were  not 


DIVERSIONS  OF  THE  SIXTH  CORPS.  275 

present  ' '  officially  ! "  It  was  a  fearfully  hot  day  —  thermometer  about  96 
in  the  shade.  The  two  men  stripped  down  to  their  gray  drawers,  socks 
and  shoes.  When  they  shook  hands  in  the  ring  I  thought  I  had  never 
Ijefore  seen  such  a  handsome  pair.  They  were  of  the  same  hight.  about 
five  feet  10.  Austin  was  the  lighter  of  the  two,  and  his  skin  was  white 
as  snow.  You  could  see  the  great  masses  of  muscle  work  under  his  shoul 
ders  as  he  moved  about  in  the  cat-like  way  characteristic  of  a  man  who 
has  been  a  sailor.  Purcell's  skin  was  red,  and  he  showed  considerably 
more  "beef"  than  Austin  did,  but  his  muscles  stood  out  in  big  knots,  and 
I  remember  thinking  that  he  had  the  finest  neck  I  had  ever  seen  on  a  man. 

As  they  were  going  into  the  ring  Pat  came  to  the  rope  and  whispered 
to  me,  ' '  Put  your  stuff  on  the  sailor ! ' '  (meaning  that  I  should  bet  on 
Austin).  To  cut  a  long  story  short,  Austin  went  for  Purcell's  head  from 
the  jump,  while  Purcell  seemed  to  care  nothing  for  punishment  in  the 
face,  but  kept  working  away  as  best  he  could  at  Austin's  heart,  ribs  and 
stomach.  Austin  got  the  first  knockdown  and  first  blood,  sending  Pur- 
cell  clean  off  his  feet  in  the  first  round  by  a  tremendous  left  hander  on  the 
right  cheek  bone  just  under  the  eye.  The  ensuing  rounds,  up  to  the 
eighth,  were  practically  repetitions  of  the  first,  but  in  the  eighth  round 
Purcell  got  in  a  rib-roaster  which  sent  Austin  to  grass  all  in  a  heap,  and 
from  which  he  barely  recovered  within  the  call  of  time.  In  the  ninth 
and  10th  rounds  Austin  was  more  cautious,  and  did  not  lead  the  fighting 
as  he  had  previously  done,  being  evidently  impressed  with  the  grim  nerve 
of  the  iron-headed  Pennsylvanian,  who,  though  his  face  had  been  made  to 
look  like  a  badly -carved  joint  of  roast  beef,  still  came  up  smiling  every 
time  and  took  his  punishment  with  a  heart  that  I  have  never  seen  equalled. 
At  the  end  of  the  10th  round  I  said  to  a  Vermonter  standing  by  my  side 
at  the  ropes : 

"  Your  man  is  the  better  boxer  of  the  two,  but  the  Pennsylvanian  is 
going  to  win  by  clear  game  and  bottom ! ' ' 

"Twenty  to  10  that  he  don't!"  was  the  reply,  shaking  the  green 
backs  between  his  fingers  in  my  face.  I  pulled  a  10  and  we  tied  them 
around  the  rope  in  front  of  us. 

As  they  came  up  for  the  llth  round  I  observed  that  Austin  was 
changing  his  tactics.  He  had  got  tired  of  wearing  his  fist  out  against  the 
cast-iron  head  of  the  Pittsburger  and  began  to  reach  for  his  vitals.  This 
was  his  fatal  mistake.  My  judgment  was  right.  The  New  Bedford  whale 
man  was  quick  as  a  cat,  a  rapid  and  powerful  hitter,  but  the  Pittsburg 
iron  molder  was  a  stayer  from  away  back,  and  as  soon  as  his  grim  stoicism 
and  invincible  resolution  impressed  the  mind  of  his  adversary,  the  latter 
was  gone  !  I  could  see  Austin  weaken  from  the  10th  round.  He  had  ex 
pected  to  win  quickly  by  his  cat-like  activity  and  sailor  tricks.  But  when 
he  found  that  the  tough  Pennsylvanian  kept  staying  with  him  he  got 
rattled.  At  this  time  they  had  been  fighting  38  minutes  by  my  watch. 
When  they  came  up  for  the  12th  round  Austin  led  for  Purcell's  heart,  but 
was  cleverly  countered  on  the  chin  and  barely  escaped  a  knockdown.  I 


276  THE  CANNONEER. 

could  distinctly  hear  his  teeth  chuck  together  as  Purcell  hit  him.  From 
that  time  on  Austin  lost  command  of  himself  and  struck  out  wildly,  and 
all  at  once  Serg't  Wilcox  called  time  and  allowed  a  foul  in  favor  of  Purcell. 

"Withdraw  that  judgment,  please,  Mr.  Referee,"  said  Purcell  in 
stantly,  "  I  don't  want  to  win  this  fight  that  way  !  I  can  whip  him  on 
my  merits,  and  that's  what  I  want  to  do  !  " 

But  Wilcox  said  :  ' '  The  men  will  observe  time.  This  fight  is  under 
the  London  rules,  and  I  am  here  to  see  that  they  are  carried  out.  I  decide 
that  Mr.  Austin  has  lost  the  fight  by  a  foul.  I  am  capable  of  enforcing 
that  decision.  The  fight  is  ended.  If  the  principals  agree  to  it,  side  bets 
may  be  declared  off,  but  the  fight  must  stop  here.  It  is  a  clear  case  of 
foul." 

There  was  no  dissent  from  the  judgment  of  Serg't  Wilcox,  and  the 
fight  terminated.  I  wanted  to  see  it  fought  to  a  finish,  because  I  was 
being  impressed  with  vast  admiration  for  the  game  and  bottom  of  Pur 
cell,  and  wanted  to  see  him  win,  as  he  said,  ' '  on  his  merits. ' '  After  it 
was  over  a  match  was  arranged  between  Pat  Hunt  and  Serg't  Wilcox  for 
$300,  but  before  it  could  come  off  we  were  in  motion  again  for  the  Valley, 
and  we  "fought  it  out"  at  Winchester,  Fisher's  Hill  and  Cedar  Creek  ! 

Hunt  and  Wilcox  would  have  made  a  fine  match.  Hunt  had  fought 
several  ring-battles  while  in  the  English  army.  In  one  of  these,  which,  I 
believe,  occurred  in  India,  his  antagonist  was  no  less  a  master  of  the  art 
than  Tom  Allen,  then  a  soldier,  and  afterward  champion  of  the  world. 
Pat  said  Tom  bested  him,  but  no  one  else  had  ever  done  it.  Charley 
Wilcox  had  been  a  volunteer  fireman  in  Providence,  R.  L,  and  also 
had  made  a  sea  voyage  or  two.  He  was  a  fine  physical  specimen,  six  feet 
high,  and  weighing  about  180  pounds.  Pat  was  about  five  feet  10-j,  and 
weighed  about  155.  He  was  quicker  than  Wilcox,  and  a  better  sparrer, 
judging  from  glove  bouts  that  they  had,  but  Charley's  comrades  said  he 
was  more  clever  with  bare  hands  than  he  ever  let  on  when  sparring  with 
gloves,  and  that  he  would  stay  all  day,  if  necessary. 

After  the  war  I  saw  first-class  professional  prize  fights  between  Mace 
and  Allen,  Mace  and  Coburn,  Allen  and  Hogan,  Allen  and  McCoole,  Allen 
and  Joe  Goss,  together  with  several  middle  and  light  weight  fights,  includ 
ing  Arthur  Chambers  and  Billy  Edwards  and  Sam  Collyer  and  Barney 
Aaron,  but  I  never  saw  a  better  or  a  braver  fight  than  that  one  between 
those  two  Sixth  Corps  soldiers,  Purcell  and  Austin. 

Shortly  before  Sheridan  took  command  we  got  news  of  the  burning  of 
Chambersburg,  and  the  belief  w7as  that  Early  would  invade  Pennsylvania, 
so  the  Sixth  Corps  broke  camp  and  advanced  from  Tenallytown  by  a 
forced  march  into  the  Valley,  and  marched  and  countermarched  and  rnanu- 
vered  a  good  deal  for  some  weeks  without  special  incident  until  the  middle 
of  September,  except  various  cavalry  skirmishes  at  Winchester,  Moorfield 
and  other  places,  in  which  we  took  no  part ;  so,  without  tedious  detail  of 
these  events,  I  will  "  assume  the  offensive  "  at  once  from  our  positions  on 
the  Berryville  Pike  Sept.  17,  1864. . 


ASSIGNMENT  OF  BATTERIES.  277 

As  soon  as  the  three  divisions  of  the  corps  got  together  in  the  field 
the  six  batteries  were  assigned,  two  to  each  division,  Lamb's  Battery  (C, 
1st  Rhode  Island,)  and  McCartney's  1st  Massachusetts  going  with  Kussell's; 
Van  Etten's  (Cowan's)  1st  New  York  and  ours  with  Getty's,  and  Adams's 
(G)  Rhode  Island  and  Stevens's  5th  Maine  with  Ricketts's  Division,  thus 
giving  each  division  one  rifle  battery  and  one  of  12-pounder  Napoleons.  On 
the  night  of  the  17th  we  got  marching  orders,  but  stood  fast  all  night,  it 
being  understood  that  Wilson's  cavalry  was  to  clear  the  pike  and  secure 
the  fords  and  bridges  of  Opequan  Creek  for  an  advance  on  Winchester,  the 
idea  being  to  strike  Early  in  the  rear,  who  was  said  to  be  advancing  on  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  at  Martinsburg.  During  the  afternoon  of  the 
18th  we  marched,  crossed  the  Opequan,  and  at  night  took  up  a  position  on 
the  extreme  left  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  Grant's  Vermonters  supporting,  wrhere 
the  pike  crosses  a  deep  ravine  formed  by  Abram's  Creek.  Here  we  halted 
till  perhaps  3  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  we  crossed  the  ravine  and  climbed 
up  a  steep  bank  to  a  position  on  the  sharp  crest  formed  by  the  confluence  of 
a  little  brook  wTith  Abram's  Creek,  our  position  being  to  the  left  of  the  pike, 
two  or  three  miles  east  of  Winchester.  Our  Battery  on  the  left  and  Van 
Etten's  in  the  center  were  in  line  with  this  division,  while  McCartney's  was 
in  the  interval  between  our  right  and  the  left  of  Russell.  Our  division  held 
all  the  ground  to  our  left  (south  side)  of  the  Berryville  Pike.  The  only 
troops  farther  to  our  left  were  Wilson's  cavalry,  dismounted  and  stretched 
out  through  the  fields,  as  day  broke  on  the  19th  of  September.  The  Rebel 
position  was  on  the  next  high  ground,  nearly  a  mile  from  ours,  and  as  the 
Sixth  Corps  began  to  deploy  at  daylight  their  batteries  opened.  This  range 
was  pretty  long,  so  we  advanced  along  the  ridge,  keeping  pace  with  the  in 
fantry,  until  we  got  within  easy  ' '  case  range, ' '  when  we  went  into  battery 
and  opened.  McKnight  and  Van  Etten  soon  sickened  the  two  four-gun 
batteries  they  had  on  the  other  side  of  the  brook,  and  when  they  limbered 
and  went  off  the  Sixth  Corps  infantry  began  to  advance  on  both  sides  of  the 
pike,  and  we  limbered  and  followed  them  closely.  In  this  first  artillery 
affair  we  had  twro  men  hit,  both  by  pieces  of  shell,  but  not  seriously  enough 
to  be  reported  wounded.  Others  were  hit  about  their  clothing,  myself  in 
cluded,  my  left  jacket  sleeve  being  torn  by  a  piece  of  shell  while  I  was 
thumbing  vent. 

Toward  noon  we  took  up  our  second  position,  about  a  mile  in  advance 
of  the  first,  but  in  this  position  we  did  but  little,  the  main  brunt  falling  on 
the  infantry,  who  pressed  close  up  to  the  enemy  and  broke  him  about  1 
o'clock,  with  heavy  losses  on  both  sides,  among  whom  was  the  Rebel  Gen. 
Rodes  and  our  own  Gen.  Davy  Russell,  commanding  the  First  Division. 
This  was  all  desperate  infantry  fighting,  in  which,  owing  to  the  closeness 
of  the  combatants  and  the  fact  that  our  own  infantry  were  on  high  ground 
in  our  front,  we  could  take  but  small  share.  But  about  3  o'clock  we  ad_ 
vanced  again  and  went  into  battery  on  a  high  spur  on  the  north  bank  of 
Abram's  Creek  and  cleaned  up  a  battery  they  had  in  the  edge  of  a  corn 
field  just  south  of  the  left-hand  brancli  of  the  pike  leading  into  Winchester. 


278  THE  CANNONEER. 

This  was  the  prettiest  practice  we  had  that  day,  it  being  go<xl  case  range  ; 
but,  as  they  had  only  four  guns  to  our  six,  we  wiped  their  troublesome  bat 
tery  off  the  face  of  the  earth  in  about  12  or  15  minutes,  dismounting  one  of 
its  guns,  blowing  up  one  of  its  caissons  and  destroying  many  of  its  horses 
and  about  a  third  of  its  men,  so  that  what  remained  of  it  retreated  toward 
Winchester.  The  pike  being  now  freed  from  the  raking  fire  of  this  battery, 
our  infantry  advanced  again,  and  we  followed  them  to  the  fourth  and  last 
position  of  the  day,  which  we  took  up  about  5  p.  m.  Here  we  became  en 
gaged  again  with  two  Kebel  batteries  on  a  high  knoll,  right  at  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  town  of  Winchester,  at  a  pretty  fair  range  ;  but,  just  as  we 
began  to  get  the  range  down  fine,  these  batteries  limbered  to  the  rear  and 
went  off  pell-mell  through  the  town,  followed  by  thei  r  infantry  on  both  flanks 
in  something  that,  from  where  we  stood,  looked  very  much  like  a  panic. 

This  sudden  collapse  was  due  to  the  flanking  movements  of  the  cavalry 
on  our  left,  which  had  got  so  far  round  toward  the  main  Valley  pike  that 
they  threatened  Early 's  line  of  retreat,  while  Crook's  "West  Virginia 
Army"  drove  in  their  left  flank,  and  so  he  went,  as  Sheridan  said  in  his 
report,  "Whirling  through  Winchester "  about  sundown.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  about  the  services  of  the  cavalry  in  this  battle.  For  the  most 
part  they  fought  dismounted  ;  and  armed,  as  they  chiefly  were,  with  Spen 
cer  seven-shooting  carbines,  their  musketry  was  something  fearful. 

As  we  had  all  been  marching  or  fighting  since  long  before  daylight, 
with  hardly  a  chance  to  nibble  a  hardtack,  it  may  be  imagined  that  we 
were  pretty  much  "done  up"  when  we  got  into  our  last  position  near 
Winchester  about  dark.  So  we  went  into  battery  on  a  round  knoll  just  to 
the  left  of  the  Berry  ville  Road,  overlooking  the  town,  and  bivouacked  there 
for  the  night,  in  the  interval  between  Grant's  and  Wheatou's  Brigades. 
The  cavalry  continued  pursuit  through  the  town,  and  as  far  up  the  pike  as 
Milltown,  where  they  halted  some  time  after  9  o'clock.  Battery  M's  share 
in  this  battle  was  very  creditable  and  gratifying.  We  had  had  three  hand 
some  bouts  with  the  enemy's  artillery,  cleaning  him  out  every  time.  Our 
ammunition  account  showed  that  we  had  fired  about  90  rounds  per  gun 
during  the  day,  and  none  of  our  men  had  been  killed  or  severely  wounded. 

This  battle  of  Winchester  or  Opequan  had  been  a  victory  from  start  to 
finish.  On  our  part  of  the  line  —  the  extreme  left,  in  line  with  Getty's 
Division  —  there  hadn't  been  a  waver  or  a  flicker  from  daylight  till  dark. 
We  had  driven  the  enemy  from  three  positions,  one  after  the  other,  pell- 
mell,  routing  his  infantry  and  smashing  up  his  batteries  wherever  he  at 
tempted  to  make  a  stand.  Farther  to  the  right  there  had  been  a  little 
flurry  about  1  o'clock,  when  Rodes's  Division  made  its  grand  charge,  but 
the  line  there  was  quickly  restored  by  Russell's  Division,  of  the  Sixth,  and 
Stevens's,  Lamb's  and  McCartney's  Batteries,  but  it  was  done  at  the  heavy 
cost  of  the  gallant  Russell's  life !  This  sort  of  fighting  was  very  delightful 
to  the  poor  devils  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  who  had  been  assaulting  earthworks 
so  long  that  they  could  hardly  believe  their  senses  when  they  actually  saw 
the  Rebels  in  the  open  field  in  front  of  them. 


FISHER'S  HILL.  279 

"Great  God  !  "  said  the  old  boys,  "if  we  could  have  got  this  kind  of  a 
lick  at  them  last  Spring  !  There  wouldn't  be  no  war  now  if  we  had  ! ''  and 
so  on.  Early  the  next  morning  we  went  into  the  town  and  camped  just 
in  the  south  edge  of  it,  in  an  orchard.  The  houses  were  full  of  Rebel 
wounded,  and  they  had  left  all  their  dead  for  us  to  bury.  During  the  day 
I  was  on  "safeguard  "  at  a  house  just  back  of  our  camp,  and  there  was  a 
Rebel  Lieutenant  of  artillery  there,  who  had  been  wounded  in  the  battery 
which  we  had  smashed  up  in  our  third  position.  This  was  one  of  Braxton's 
batteries.  He  said  that  they  were  short  of  men,  having  only  about  20  Can 
noneers  for  their  four  guns  when  they  went  into  action,  and  not  more  than 
50  rounds  of  all  kinds  of  ammunition.  And  he  said  it  was  so  plain  to  his 
men  that  they  were  overmatched  that  he  couldn't  get  them  to  stick  to  their 
guns  after  we  dismounted  one  and  blew  up  the  caisson.  Of  course  I  was 
forced  to  admit  that  we  had  a  pretty  full  complement  and  plenty  of  ammu 
nition.  I  gave  this  Kebel  my  three  days'  rations  of  coffee  and  sugar  and 
begged  some  brandy  for  him  from  Dr.  Carter,  one  of  our  Surgeons,  whom 
I  knew.  He  had  been  hit  by  a  piece  of  case  shot,  which  tore  his  left  shoul 
der  and  neck  badly,  but  broke  no  bones.  Early  in  the  morning  of  the  21st 
we  moved  up  the  pike,  following  the  Second  (Getty's)  Division,  which  had 
gone  up  the  previous  afternoon.  Arriving  at  Strasburg  just  as  our  infantry 
had  cleared  its  streets  of  the  enemy's  pickets  and  skirmishers,  we  passed 
through  it  and  halted  half  a  mile  beyond,  near  the  track  of  the  Manassas 
Gap  Railroad. 

We  went  into  battery  in  the  morning  of  the  22d  and  cannonaded  his 
position  for  an  hour  or  so  with  shell  and  case,  and  about  3  or  4  in  the 
afternoon  the  infantry  went  over  and  through  his  works  from  one  end  to 
the  other  at  the  first  dash,  in  a  manner  that  astonished  even  ourselves. 
This  forcing  Early 's  lines  at  Fisher's  Hill  —  done  as  it  was  "right  from 
the  jump,"  without  a  single  mishap  or  error — was  one  of  the  finest  as 
saults  ever  delivered.  The  works  were  very  strong,  the  position  was  a 
commanding  one,  and  the  approaches  difficult  both  by  nature  and  by  art. 
From  the  position  of  the  Battery,  which  was  formed  on  the  highest  ground 
on  the  north  bank  of  Tumbling  Run  —  a  bluff,  in  fact  —  we  could  see  the 
whole  line  as  it  went  up  the  slope.  The  flanking  attack  of  the  Eighth 
Corps  on  the  Rebel  left,  which  was  most  gallantly  made  under  great  diffi 
culties,  contributed  largely  to  the  demoralization  of  the  enemy,  but  nothing 
could  dim  the  splendor  of  the  assault  of  the  Sixth  and  Nineteenth  Corps. 
The  ground  in  front  of  the  Rebel  works  was  so  steep  in  many  places  that 
it  amounted  to  a  natural  scarp,  and  from  where  we  were  we  could  plainly 
see  the  infantry  digging  their  bayonets  into  the  ground  to  climb  up  by.  It 
was  a  regular  escalade  on  more  than  half  the  line.  Some  idea  of  the  sud 
denness  of  the  success  and  the  completeness  of  the  rout  may  be  formed 
from  the  fact  that  they  had  four  four-gun  batteries  in  the  strongest  part  of 
their  works,  above  the  pike  bridge,  over  Tumbling  Run,  and  they  did  not 
have  time  to  get  these  away,  the  whole  of  them  being  captured  in  the 
grand  rush.  This  made  two  complete  routs  of  Early's  army  in  three  days. 


280 


THE  CANNONEER. 


The  flank  attack  by  the  Eighth  Corps,  or  "Army  of  West  Virginia," 
was  a  most  creditable  performance.  It  is  briefly  described  by  Comrade 
John  T.  Booth,  of  the  36th  Ohio,  in  a  letter  to  the  author.  He  says  : 

In  my  office  some  months  ago  I  talked  with  a  former  playmate,  who  served 
in  a  Pennsylvania  regiment  in  the  Sixth  Corps.  He  remembered  distinctly  of 
the  Sixth  Corps  marching  by  where  we  were  encamped  along  the  pike  in  the 
evening  of  Fisher's  Hill.  We  were  getting  supper  when  the  Sixth  Corps 
marched  by,  and  you  may  recall  the  fact  they  gave  iis  some  lusty  cheers  in 
recognition  of  the  part  we  had  taken  in  routing  Early's  forces.  The  Sixth 
Corps  boys,  in  their  turn,  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  Army  of  West  Vir 
ginia  was  the  chief  factor  in  routing  the  enemy  out;  of  his  stronghold.  The 
historian  of  the  8th  Vermont,  of  the  Nineteenth  Corps,  realized  and  plainly 
states  the  case  on  pages  199  and  300  of  the  regiment's  history.  The  historian 
says,  page  200 :  "  At  5  o'clock  Gen.  Sheridan's  plan  of  attack  becomes  apparent. 
While  the  movements  in  front  had  engaged  the  attention  of  the  enemy,  Crook, 
with  the  Eighth  Corps,  had  executed  a  successful  flank  movement,  surprising 
them  and  winning  their  left.  Col.  Thomas,  with  his  regiment,  pushed  forward 
with  the  rest  of  the  Nineteenth  Corps  toward  the  base  of  the  bluff  that  looked 
so  formidable,  bristling  with  blazing  guns.  But  it  seemed  incredible  that 
Crook  could  actually  be  in  the  enemy's  rear,  or  that  the  strong  works  would 
yield  to  assault.  Just  then,  however,  Capt.  Wilkinson,  of  Gen.  Emory's  staff, 
came  darting  along,  waving  his  hat  and  shouting :  '  They've  left  their  guns 
and  are  running  like  cowards!'  Gen.  Sheridan,  too,  was  all  along  the  line 
with  his  Aids,  impatient  of  delay,  and  commanding  everything  to  be  hurried 
forward." 

'Twas  thus  they  saw  it  in  the  Nineteenth  Corps.  If  you  will  visit  the  enemy's 
position  at  Fisher's  Hill  and  carefully  survey  the  ground  and  the  remaining 
works  even  at  this  date  you  will  see  how  readily  a  skilful  engineer  could  restore 
them  to  the  strength  they  then  possessed,  and  realize  the  utter  impossibility  of 
making  the  assault  of  the  Sixth  and  Nineteenth  without  the  aid  which  the  Army 
of  West  Virginia  gave. 

On  the  3d  of  October  McCartney's  1st  Massachusetts  Battery  was 
mustered  out  and  went  home,  leaving  quite  a  number  of  re-enlisted  men 
and  recruits  who  had  still  some  time  to  serve.  Of  these  the  following  were 
assigned  to  temporary  service  with  our  Battery  : 


Sergeant— Matt  Adams. 

Corporals— Mike  Lynch, 

Charles  Edwards, 
Dan  Benham, 
John  Esler. 

Privates— George  Appleton, 
Joseph  Barnes, 
Dan  Brown, 
John  Carter, 
Reuben  Charteris, 
John  W.  Carroll, 
Chester  Ellis, 
Edwin  Eaton, 
James  Gordon, 
John  C.  Gordon, 


Henry  Hall. 


Privates— Sylvester  Horton, 
Richard  Isaacs, 
William  Isaacs, 
George  Goliffe, 
Fred  Higgins, 
Mitchell  Lawrence, 
Joseph  Marean, 
John  Neale, 
Charley  Pike, 
Robert  Reade, 
John  Richardson, 
Frank  Smith, 
Andrew  Sturdevant, 
Alonzo  Sackett, 
John  A.  Wright, 


CHAPTER  XI. 


DEVASTATION  OF  THE  VALLEY  —  SIXTH  CORPS  STARTS  FOR  PETERSBURG 
—RECALLED  TO  THE  FRONT — CEDAR  CREEK — ADVANCED  TROOPS 
SURPRISED  AND  OVERWHELMED  —  THE  SIXTH  CORPS  TAKES  THE 
BRUNT  —  DESPERATE  FIGHTING  BY  GETTY'S  DIVISION — FREE 
USE  OF  THE  COLD  STEEL — THE  UNCONQUERABLE  VERMONTERS — 
THEY  RESCUE  BATTERY  M  —  WE  ARE  COMPLIMENTED  BY  GEN. 
LEWIS  A.  GRANT  — TOTAL  WRECK  OF  EARLY'S  ARMY  — BATTLE 
FIELD  AMENITIES. 

ROM  Fisher's  Hill  Sheridan's  army 
moved  rapidly  up  the  Valley,  encounter 
ing  no  resistance  worth  mentioning.  As 
for  ourselves,  we  did  not  go  beyond  Har- 
risonburg,  but  halted  until  the  army 
began  to  retrace  its  steps  to  Kernstown. 
Concerning  the  devastation  of  the  Valley 
during  this  retrograde  movement  I 
have  little  to  say.  We  of  the  artillery 
had  no  hand  in  it,  except  to  kill  a  few 
pigs  and  chickens  for  our  own  use.  Of 
course  it  was  a  proper  military  measure, 
and  was  designed  to  prevent  the  sub- 

Hsistence  of  the  Rebel  army  there.  But 
one  of  my  saddest  memories  is  the  rec 
ollection  of  the  poor  women  and  chil 
dren  looking  hopelessly  at  the  destruc 
tion  of  everything  they  had  to  eat,  the 
burning  of  their  grain  stacks,  barns, 
mills,  and  frequently  their  houses, 
which,  though  not  intentionally  set  on 
fire,  would  frequently  be  involved  in 
the  conflagration  of  their  outbuildings. 
However,  the  most  of  this  business  was 
done  by  the  cavalry  which  brought  up 
the  rear,  and  was  stretched  across  the 
whole  Valley,  from  mountain  to  moun 
tain,  and  absolutely  left  a  desert  in  its  track.  Returning  to  Kernstown 
we  lay  there  until  about  the  10th  of  October,  when  the  Sixth  Corps  got 
orders  to  return  to  Petersburg,  and  the  next  day  we  marched  to  Berry  ville. 
Here,  just  as  we  were  about  to  cross  the  fords  in  front  of  the  gap.  en  route 


282  THE  CANNONEEB. 

to  Washington,  we  were  halted.  It  soon  flew  through  the  ranks  that  we 
had  been  recalled.  All  sorts  of  rumors  prevailed  now.  The  most  common 
-  and  plausible  one  was  that  Longstreet  had  come  to  the  Valley  with  his 
Corps,  and  had  superseded  Early,  also  that  every  man  and  every  gun  the 
Confederacy  could  then  muster  was  to  be  turned  loose  on  Sheridan's  army 
to  avenge  the  devastation  of  the  Valley.  At  all  events,  we  rapidly  retraced 
our  steps,  passed  through  Winchester,  Kernstown,  Newtown,  and  so  on, 
until  Oct.  14,  we  halted  just  south  of  the  little  hamlet  of  Middletown. 
Here  we  camped  in  front  of  Getty's  Division,  or  rather  in  the  interval 
between  that  and  the  First  Division,  then  commanded  by  Gen.  Frank 
Wheaton,  who  had  succeeded  Gen.  Davy  Russell,  killed  at  Opequan. 

The  Valley  campaign  had  now  been  going  on  for  two  months  since 
Sheridan  took  command,  and  more  than  three  months  since  the  Sixth  Corps 
came  to  Washington.  Two  considerable  battles  had  l>een  fought,  both  brill 
iant  victories,  and  all  the  soldiers  thought  they  should  have  been  decisive. 
So  that,  when  the  Sixth  Corps  started  back  for  Washington  en  route  to 
Petersburg,  no  one  dreamed  that  the  chief  battle  of  the  whole  campaign 
was  impending,  or  that  it  would  be  one  of  the  most  remarkable  combats  in 
the  annals  of  warfare. 

The  ease  with  which  we  had  defeated  Early  at  the  Opequan,  and  the 
feebleness  of  his  resistance  three  days  later  at  Fisher's  Hill,  had  convinced 
us  of  the  total  collapse  of  his  army,  which  fact,  I  presume,  was  the  chief 
reason  why  he  so  easily  surprised  our  advanced  troops  at  Cedar  Creek.  But 
we  also  knew  that  the  recall  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  under  the  circumstances, 
must  mean  business,  because  the  presence  of  that  corps  on  any  field  meant 
that  there  was  to  be  fighting.  It  was  never  known  to  be  on  hand  for  any 
other  purpose.  So,  as  before  stated,  wTe  marched  back  to  near  Middletown, 
and  encamped  in  the  open  field  to  the  right  rear  of  the  intrenched  camp  of 
the  Nineteenth  Corps,  w;hich  was  in  turn  camped  to  the  right  rear  of  the 
Army  of  West  Virginia,  sometimes  called  the  Eighth  Corps.  Those  two 
corps  had  their  camps  intrenched,  but  the  Sixth  camped  in  the  open. 

Here  we  remained  the  16th,  17th  and  18th  of  October  without  incident 
of  special  note.  But  it  was  well  known  in  the  camp  that  the  Eebels  had 
been  heavily  reinforced,  and  it  was  believed  that  Longstreet  had  taken 
command  ;  indeed,  there  was  a  rumor  on  the  17th  or  18th  that  Lee  himself 
was  there.  At  all  events,  we  all  expected  to  fight  another  battle  —  though 
we  "didn't  expect  that  it  would  come  in  such  unexpected  shape,"  as  my 
Irish  blanket-mate  remarked  after  it  was  all  over.  The  18th  of  October 
had  been  a  warm  day  for  the  time  of  the  year,  but  the  night  was  cool  and 
the  result  was  a  dense  fog  in  the  valley  of  the  creek  from  midnight  on.  I 
remember  this  distinctly,  being  on  the  camp  guard  that  night,  and  having 
the  "trick"  from  11  till  1  a.  m.,  and  when  I  was  relieved  at  the  latter 
hour  you  couldn't  see  a  hundred  feet  in  any  direction  on  the  lower  ground 
near  the  creek,  though  the  moon  was  shining  brightly  upon  the  mountain 
in  our  front. 

In  order  that  'the  situation  at  this  time  may  be  more  clearly  under- 


POSITIONS  OF  THE  AKMY.  283 

stood,  it  is  necessary  to  offer  a  brief  survey  of  the  ground  and  the  disposi 
tions  of  the  troops.  The  army  was  camped  in  the  irregular  angle  bounded 
by  Cedar  Creek  on  the  west  and  the  Shenandoah  on  the  south.  Cedar 
Creek  flows  in  a  general  southerly  direction,  and  joins  the  river  just  above 
Mclntorf 's  Ford.  The  course  of  the  river  at  this  point  is  approximately 
east  and  west,  and  the  mountain  comes  abruptly  down  on  its  south  bank. 
There  is  another  ford  (Bowman's)  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  below  Mcln 
torf 's,  and  still  another  about  a  mile  and  a  half  below  the  latter  called 
Buckton  Ford.  All  these  fords  were  supposed  to  be  picketed.  Through 
the  angle  formed  by  creek  and  river  the  Valley  Turnpike  holds  a  general 
southwesterly  course  toward  Strasburg,  crossing  Cedar  Creek  by  a  substan 
tial  stone  bridge,  having  difficult  approaches  in  consequence  of  steep  banks. 
A  small  stream,  called  Meadow  Brook,  heads  west  of  the  pike  and  flows 
parallel  with  it  for  about  four  miles,  emptying  into  Cedar  Creek  about 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  above  the  pike  bridge.  Another  brook,  called 
Middlernarsh,  heads  about  even  with  Meadow  Brook,  and  flows  parallel 
with  it  for  about  three  miles  into  Cedar  Creek.  On  the  series  of  ridges  or 
the  rolling  plateau  between  these  two  last-named  brooks  the  battle  was 
principally  fought.  The  army  was  camped  with  a  view  to  the  pike  as  a 
line  of  operations  and  Cedar  Creek  as  the  proper  front.  Crook's  command 
had  the  left  of  the  army  and  held  all  of  the  line  south  of  the  pike  bridge, 
its  extreme  left  terminating  about  a  mile  below  the  bridge  in  a  fortified 
camp  fronting  Eoberts's  Ford,  and  held  by  Thoburn's  Division.  The 
Nineteenth  Corps  held  all  the  ground  between  the  pike  bridge  and  the 
mouth  of  Meadow  Brook,  its  camp  also  being  fortified.  The  Sixth  Corps 
was  camped  on  the  north  side  of  Meadow  Brook,  to  the  right  and  rear  of 
the  Nineteenth,  but  was  simply  bivouacked  in  the  fields  with  neither  forti 
fications  nor  shelter.  The  artillery  of  the  Sixth  Corps  was  camped  together 
along  the  crossroad  which  runs  from  Middletown  Hamlet  on  the  pike  to 
Cedar  Creek  at  Hottle's  Ford.  Owing  to  a  bend  in  Meadow  Brook  it  hap 
pened  that  some  of  the  batteries  were  south  of  the  brook,  and  a  short 
distance  beyond  was  Belle  Grove  Mansion,  which  was  army  headquarters. 
As  before  stated,  the  proper  frontage  of  all  these  camps  was  toward  Cedar 
Creek,  no  provision  having  been  made  to  refuse  the  left  flank  in  anticipa 
tion  of  a  possible  attack  from  the  direction  of  the  river.  The  attack  did 
come  from  that  quarter,  and  the  enemy  got  in  the  rear  of  Thoburn's  camp 
before  daylight,  attacking  his  men  in  their  tents,  his  intrenchments  and 
artillery  looking  toward  Cedar  Creek  being  of  no  use  whatever.  The  result 
of  this  attack  was  the  temporary  dispersion  of  Thoburn's  Division,  he  him 
self  being  killed  in  a  desperate  attempt  to  make  a  new  front  in  accordance 
with  the  situation  as  developed.  The  enemy,  following  this  advantage 
rapidly,  soon  flanked  the  other  (R.  B.  Hayes's)  division  of  Crook's  com 
mand  out  of  its  position,  and  then  assailed  in  the  same  manner  the  rear  of 
the  intrenched  camp  of  the  Nineteenth  Corps,  supplementing  this  rear  attack 
by  assailing  the  left  flank  of  that  corps,  perpendicular  to  its  line,  with 
Kershaw's  Division.  These  operations  had  begun  about  5  o'clock  in  the 


284 


THE  CANNONEER. 


PIAGIIAM  OF  CEDAR  CREEK. 


BEGINNING  OF  THE  BATTLE. 


•285- 


morning,  which  was  long  before  daylight  at  that  time  of  the  year,  and  in 
the  course  of  an  hour  and  a  half  they  had  made  sufficient  progress  to  bring 
the  Sixth  Corps  into  action.  In  a  word,  three  divisions  of  the  enemy  — 
Gordon's,  Eamseur's  and  Pegram's — had  swept  along  the  rear  of  the 
Eighth  and  Nineteenth  Corps  from,  left  to  right,  and,  reinforced  by  Ker- 
shaw  from  the  flank  and  by  Wharton  from  the  old  front,  they  now  assailed 
in  turn  the  Sixth  Corps,  which,  indeed,  had  not  lacked  warning. 

There  has  been  much  acrimonious  controversy  about  the  surprise  of 
that  morning,  but  the  scope  of  this  work  does  not  permit  reference  to  it 
except  to  say  that,  under  the  same  circumstances,  any  other  troops  would 
have  done  just  as  the  Eighth  and  Nineteenth  Corps  did.  Suffice  to  say 
that  by  6 : 30  in  the  morning  the  Eighth  and  Nineteenth  Corps  had  left 
their  original  positions  in  more  or  less  disorder,  and  the  Sixth  Corps  had 
formed  a  new  front  practically  in  reverse  of  the  old  one,  having  thereby 
shifted  its  relative  position  from  the  right  rear  to  the  left  front  of  the 
army. 

The  first  movement  which  Gen.  Wright  made  with  the  Sixth  Corps 
was  to  throw  Getty's  (Second)  Division  across  Meadow  Brook  with 
a  view  to  forming  a  new  line  on  the  pike  just  above  Middletown. 


LEGEND  OF  DIAGRAM. 


UNION  POSITIONS. 

T.  5— Thoburn  at  5  a.  m. 

H.  5— R.  B.  Hayes  at  5  a.  m. 

19  C.  5— Nineteenth  Corps  at  5  a.  m. 

2  D.  6:30-Getty  at  6:30  a.  m. 

1  D.  6:30- Wheaton  at  6:30  a.  m. 

3  D.  6:30— Ilicketts  at  6:30  a.  m. 
M.  6:30— McKnight,  first  position. 

2  D.  8-10— Getty  on  Cemetery  Hill 
from  8  to  9:30  or  10  a.  m. 

1  D.  8-10— Wheaton  from  8  to  10  a.  m. 

3  D.  8-10— Ricketts  from  8  to  10  a.  m. 
19  C.  8-10— Nineteenth  Corps  from  8 

to  10  a.  m. 

M.  8:30—  McKnight  in  front  of  Ceme 
tery  —  place  of  the  wreck. 

M.  9— McKnight,  two  guns  on  left  of 
Bidwell  from,  say,  8:30  to  9:30  a.  m. 

V.  8— Van  Etten,  on  Warner's  line,  8 
to  9:30  a.  m. 

S.  8— Stevens,  first  position. 

S.  10— Stevens,  second  position. 

2  D.  4— Getty,  final  position. 

3  D.  4— Ricketts,  final  position. 
1  D.  4— Wheaton,  final  position, 

1  D.  12— Wheaton  reforming  line  at 
noon. 

3  D.  12— Ricketts  (Keif er)  reforming 
line  at  noon. 

19  C.  12—  Nineteenth  Corps  reforming 


at  noon. 

19  C.  4— Nineteenth  Corps,  final  posi 
tion. 

8  C.  4— Crook's  command  rallied. 

CONFEDERATE    POSITIONS. 

W.  5— Wharton  at  5  a.  m. 

K.  5 — Kershaw  at  5  a.  m. 

P.  6 — Pegram  at  6  a.  m. 

G.  6— Gordon  at  6  a.  m. 

R.  6— Ramseur  at  6  a.  m. 

R.  7— Ramseur  at  7  a.  m. 

G.  7— Gordon  at  7  a.  m. 

P.  7— Pegram  at  7  a.  m. 

K.  7— Kershaw  at  7  a.  m. 

[This  was  where  they  first  struck  the 
Sixth  Corps.  The  diagram  shows  Ker 
shaw  at  7  a.  m."  straddle  "  of  the  creek. 
This  is  not  accurate.  All  his  troops 
were  east  of  the  creek.] 

P.  8-10— Pegram  attacking  Getty. 

R.  8-10— Ramseur  attacking  Getty. 

K.  8-10— Kershaw  attacking  Getty. 

G.  8-10— Gordon  flanking  the  First 
Division. 

[These  were  the  positions  of  the  fight 
at  the  Cemetery.] 

W.  11-4 ;  P.  4 ;  R.  4 ;  K.  4,  and  G.  4 
represent  the  final  positions  of  the 
enemy,  from  which  they  were  routed.. 


286  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

In  making  this  movement  they  passed  the  Battery  camp.  All  the  bat 
teries  had  turned  out  and  hitched  up  at  the  first  alarm  before  daylight, 
when  the  attack  on  Thobum  began.  When  I  had  turned  in  at  1  o'clock 
everything  was  so  quiet  that  any  alarm  that  night  seemed  impossible,  and 
I  had  pulled  off  my  boots,  jacket  and  trousers,  and  crawled  into  our  warm 
double  blankets,  alongside  of  Pat,  in  a  sense  of  perfect  security.  Falling 
asleep  almost  instantly,  I  realized  nothing  until  I  felt  a  rude  shake  and 
heard  Pat's  voice,  "Turn  out,  quick!  We're  attacked!"  and  the  shrill 
blast  of  our  bugles,  the  shouts  of  our  officers  and  the  rattle  of  the  harness, 
and,  above  all,  the  crash,  crash,  crash  of  rapid  volleys  up  in  front  —  all  of 
which,  in  the  fog  and  darkness,  made  a  perfect  pandemonium.  Crawling 
out  of  the  shelter  tent,  I  "dressed"  in  the  open  air  and  ran  to  post,  leav 
ing  everything  in  the  tent  just  as  it  was — blankets,  haversacks,  etc.,  taking 
nothing  with  me  but  my  canteen  and  revolver-belt,  which  I  buckled  on 
as  I  ran.  The  sound  of  battle  in  front  rose  heavier  and  heavier  through 
the  fog.  As  we  moved  to  take  position,  which  was  not  more  than  100 
yards  from  our  camp,  we  saw  the  Vermonters  on  our  left  and  Wheaton's 
old  Brigade  (then  commanded  by  Col.  Warner)  on  our  right  —  we  were  in 
the  interval  between  them  —  rapidly  deploying  through  the  fog  and  gloom. 
They  moved  out  in  front  of  us  and  crossed  the  brook,  we  remaining  on  the 
knoll.  Here  in  a  few  minutes  we  found  ourselves  in  line  with  some  of 
Eicketts's  (Third)  Division,  the  10th  Vermont,  of  the  First  Brigade  of  that 
division,  being  the  nearest  infantry  command.  It  was  now  growing  lighter, 
but  the  fog  still  hung  low  and  not  much  could  be  seen  ;  but  a  great  deal 
could  be  heard,  and  it  kept  getting  louder  and  coming  closer  —  yells,  vol 
leys,  occasional  cannon  shots,  etc.  By  this  time  it  may  have  been  between 
6  and  7  a.  m.  The  fog  was  beginning  to  "scale  up"  where  we  were,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  we  could  see  quite  a  distance  —  perhaps  40  rods  —  and 
could  distinguish  objects  as  far  as  the  grove  west  of  the  pike. 

The  enemy  was  following  up  his  success  vigorously  and  soon  began 
to  strike  the  skirmishers  of  Grant's  Brigade,  who  were  in  our  left  front. 
Capt.  McKnight  ordered  us  to  open  with  case,  but  there  was  such  a  jam 
of  wagons  and  other  debris  in  our  immediate  front  that  we  had  to  wait  for 
them,  to  clear  the  way ,  and  when  we  did  open  the  enemy  was  pretty  close 
to  us.  The  Rebel  infantry  began  file  firing  as  they  came  up,  and  Lieut. 
Fred  Robinson,  who  commanded  the  left  section,  was  severely  wounded 
and  had  to  leave  the  field.  At  the  same  time  our  infantry  on  the  left  of 
the  Battery  was  compelled  to  refuse  its  left  flank  to  face  toward  the  pike, 
and  in  doing  so  left  the  Battery  without  support  on  either  flank.  Just  at 
this  moment  the  enemy  came  up  out  of  the  ravine  to  our  left  and  fired  a 
scattering  volley.  This  killed  George  Appleton,  who  came  from  McCart 
ney's  1st  Massachusetts  Battery.  He  was  standing  close  to  me,  and  his 
blood  spouted  in  jets  as  he  fell,  staining  my  jacket  and  trousers  from  the 
breast  to  the  knee.  Capt.  McKnight — who  was  Acting  Chief  or  doing 
some  other  staff  duty  that  day,  but  happened  to  be  in  the  Battery  at  that 
moment — now  ordered  us  to  limber  to  the  rear  and  take  position  on  the 


THE  SIXTH  CORPS  STANDS.  287 

high  knoll  or  small  hill  half  a  mile  or  so  to  the  north.  There  was  no  use 
to  try  to  hold  that  position  where  we  were,  with  the  unsupported  Battery 
alone,  as  the  other  batteries  —  Stevens's,  Lamb's  and  Van  Etten's — to  the 
right  had  already  began  to  retire  with  Wheaton's  (First)  Division.  There 
was  a  brushy  little  ravine  close  to  our  left  flank,  where  a  little  rill  flowed 
into  Meadow  Brook,  and  the  enemy's  skirmishers  swarmed  into  this  and, 
as  we  were  limbering  up,  fired  a  volley  which  downed  every  driver  and 
team  on  No.  2  gun  of  the  left  section,  and  they  also  reached  far  enough 
around  our  left  flank  to  get  in  on  our  rear  and  cripple  two  of  the  caisson 
teams,  so  that  we  had  to  abandon  that  gun  and  the  two  caissons  of  the  left 
section.  It  is  my  impression  that  they  also  caught  Van  Etten's  left  sec 
tion —  which  joined  us  on  our  right  —  in  the  same  way.  But  we  got  off 
with  the  other  five  guns  and  four  caissons,  and  fell  rapidly  back  to  the 
point  indicated,  going  in  battery  again  on  the  west  side  of  Meadow  Brook, 
opposite  Middletown  village  or  hamlet,  a  little  in  front  and  to  the  right  of 
the  old  burying  ground  which  was  on  the  crest  of  the  knoll.  We  lost  in 
this  first  encounter  one  officer  and  seven  or  eight  men,  together  with  one 
gun,  two  caissons  and  probably  12  or  15  horses. 

Our  infantry  now  rapidly  formed  on  the  slopes  of  the  knoll  or  hill, 
occupying  the  fences  and  such  other  cover  as  the  ground  afforded,  we  being 
in  the  interval  between  Grant's  and  Bidwell's  Brigades.  When  this  first 
retrograde  movement  took  place  the  Third  Division,  which  had  been  with 
ms  in  front  of  the  Belle  Grove  House,  obliqued  to  the  right  and  we  retreated 
with  the  Second  Division.  The  fact  is  that  even  the  Sixth  Corps  was  in 
some  little  confusion  there,  which  is  saying  a  great  deal.  The  enemy  him 
self  appeared  to  be  in  a  good  deal  of  confusion,  and  took  some  time  to 
rally  —  perhaps  half  an  hour  —  on  the  ground  which  we  had  occupied  at 
first.  There  was  still  considerable  fog  on  the  lower  ground.  Immediately 
on  the  left  flank  of  the  Battery  in  this  new  position  was  another  little 
ravine,  with  a  tumble-down  stone  wall  running  along  the  bank  next  to  us, 
and  it  struck  me  at  the  time  that  this  exposed  us  to  an  attack  similar  to 
the  one  that  had  cost  us  a  gun  and  several  men  in  the  first  position.  To 
our  right,  and  running  along  the  side  of  the  hill  diagonally  to  our  line, 
was  another  wall,  which  some  part  of  the  Vermonters  had  seized.  Beyond 
that  our  new  line  bent  round  the  curve  of  the  hill  to  the  westward  of  the 
Cemetery,  where  Warner  was  forming  his  brigade  on  the  right  of  the  Ver- 
nionters.  To  the  left  Bidwell's  men  were  forming  along  the  bank  of  the 
brook,  but  they  did  not  connect  with  the  Vermonters,  so  that  there  was  a 
gap  of  about  20  rods,  or  at  least  several  battery  fronts  in  width,  which  the 
Battery  was  plainly  expected  to  hold.  So  we  loaded  canister  double  and 
braced  ourselves  for  business  of  a  pressing  nature. 

And  now  the  enemy,  having  reformed  his  line,  came  on  again  with  loud 
yells.  The  moment  they  started  we  opened  on  them  at  point  blank,  and 
doing  some  fine  execution,  but  they  wouldn't  stop.  Being  Acting  Gunner 
since  leaving  the  first  position,  I  "kept  her  muzzle  down,"  so  that  every 
round  ' '  threw  the  dirt  in  their  faces  ; ' '  but  there  was  no  stopping  them. 


288  THE  CANNONEER. 

On  they  came,  swinging  their  left  around  to  take  in  reverse  the  short  piece 
of  stone  wall  that  the  advanced  line  of  the  Vermonters  held,  and  in  doing 
so  the  musketry  of  their  left  began  to  enfilade  our  Battery  front.  Our  right 
and  center  sections  stood  their  ground  well,  and  the  right  gun  was  slewed 
round  to  the  right  to  meet  this  flank  attack.  But  Lieut.  Kobinson,  com 
manding  our  left  section,  had  been  already  shot,  and  one  of  his  guns  had 
been  abandoned,  as  before  mentioned,  in  our  first  position,  so  that  section 
was  wholly  demoralized,  and  its  remaining  men  were  either  shot  or  driven 
from  their  gun,  which  was  exposed  to  a  fire  from  the  ravine  before  de 
scribed.  The  enemy  was  now  so  near  that  we  ' '  could  see  the  wrhites  of  his 
eyes,"  and  firing  as  he  came  on. 

They  were  coming  on  in  two  lines ;  the  first  a  rather  heavy  skirmish 
line,  about  10  to  20  rods  in  advance  of  their  main  line,  and  they  were  also 
reaching  round  our  left  flank  from  the  other  side  of  the  brook.  It  was  their 
front  or  skirmish  line  that  struck  us.  There  were  probably  about  75  or  80 
of  them  that  actually  struck  us,  and  the  row  was  all  over  before  the  main 
line  got  up.  I  could  not  believe  that  they  were  actually  going  to  close  with 
us  until  the  men  on  the  remaining  gun  of  our  left  section  abandoned  it  and 
retreated  toward  the  old  graveyard  wall.  Their  front  line  was  not  in  order, 
but  there  was  an  officer  leading  them,  and  I  distinctly  heard  him  shout : 
' '  Rally  on  the  Battery  !  Rally  on  the  Battery  ! ' '  Our  section  and  the  right 
stood  firm.  Pat  Hunt  drove  home  his  last  double  canisters  when  their 
leading  men  were  within  40  feet  of  him,  and  as  our  No.  4  —  sturdy  Jake 
Gabriel  —  fell  shot  through  the  head  in  the  act  of  ' '  hooking  on  "  I  took  the 
lanyard  as  it  slipped  through  his  nerveless  fingers  and  yanked  it  right  in 
their  teeth,  almost,  but  they  were  right  on  top  of  us,  and  as  Kershaw's 
Rebel  veterans  understood  this  kind  of  business  they  "opened  out,"  so 
that  the  charge  did  not  hit  any  of  them,  as  I  could  see,  and  in  a  second  they 
were  amongst  us,  amid  smoke,  fog,  wreck,  yells,  clash  and  confusion  which 
no  pen  can  depict  and  no  pencil  portray.  It  was  now  man  to  man,  hand 
to  hand,  with  bayonet  and  musket  butt  on  their  side  and  revolvers,  ram 
mer  heads  and  handspikes  on  ours ! 

But  just  at  this  supreme  moment  their  advance.line  reeled  and  wavered, 
80  or  100  of  the  Vermonters  charged  in  and  drove  the  enemy  out  of  the 
Battery  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  and  Lieut.  Baldwin  desperately  at 
tempted  to  limber  the  remaining  guns  to  the  rear.  As  the  limbers  ' '  wheeled 
in"  for  this  purpose  they  got  a  fierce  volley  from  the  enemy's  main  line 
that  had  halted  about  200  feet  from  us,  and  nearly  every  driver  and  horse 
in  the  five  teams  fell.  Meantime  the  Vermonters,  who  had  been  driven 
from,  their  stone  wall,  or  rather  flanked  out  of  its  cover,  kept  rallying  on 
our  right  as  they  came  back,  and  raking  our  Battery  front  with  a  fire  that 
held  the  Rebel  main  line  momentarily  in  check.  The  advanced  skirmish 
line  of  the  Rebels  was  now  disposed  of,  and  as  all  our  commissioned  officers 
were  gone  Serg't  Yoder  and  the  few  that  were  left  —  some  Cannoneers 
who  had  escaped  the  butchery  of  the  moment  before,  some  drivers  who  had 
extricated  themselves  out  from  under  their  fallen  teams,  together  with  Serg't 


ATTACK  ox  THE  BATTERY 


289 


•290  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

Beckhardt  and  Corp' Is  Knorr,  Kennedy  and  Benham  —  succeeded,  with  the 
help  of  some  of  the  infantry,  in  dragging  off  two  guns  —  No.  1  of  the  right 
and  No.  1  of  the  center  sections  —  by  hand  with  the  prolonges. 

Just  at  this  moment  another  of  our  men  —  Andrew  Olsen,  who  had 
joined  the  Battery  but  a  few  days  before  at  Kernstown — was  hit.  I  stated 
in  the  original  sketch  that  he  was  killed,  but  he  has  since  written  me  to 
say  that  he  was  not,  which  is  ' '  good  authority. ' '  He  was  struck  in  the 
side  of  the  neck  by  a  piece  of  shell,  for  it  must  be  understood  that  when 
the  enemy's  infantry  recoiled  he  reopened  with  his  artillery.  Andrew  was 
a  Danish  boy,  tall  and  slight.  When  hit  he  threw  his  arms  round  my 
neck  and  asked  me  to  carry  him  away  or  save  him  or  something  of  that 
sort.  But  being  busy  trying  to  limber  up  the  gun,  and  having  no  orders 
to  assist  the  wounded,  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  shake  him  off,  and,  as  I 
never  saw  him  afterward  and  soon  left  the  Battery,  I  got  the  impression  that 
he  was  killed.  My  uniform  was  already  stained  by  Appleton's  blood,  and 
now,  when  Olsen  leaned  upon  me,  bleeding  profusely  from  his  neck  wound, 
it  fairly  soaked  niy  left  sleeve  and  side  ;  so  I  was  literally  "bloody  as  a 
butcher."  As  it  turned  out,  Olsen's  wound,  though  painful,  was  not  dan 
gerous.  He  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  when  we  abandoned  that 
position,  but  was  among  those  rescued  by  the  cavalry  that  night,  and  he 
now  lives  in  Minnesota. 

As  we  began  to  move  off  with  the  two  guns  that  were  saved  we  could 
see  in  the  smoke  and  yet  remaining  fog  the  unconquerable  Vermonters  still 
rallying  to  cover  us,  and  as  the  enemy's  main  line  came  on  again  the 
infantry  had  it  with  bayonet  and  musket  butt  right  among  the  guns  that 
we  had  abandoned.  We  had  not  gone  back  more  than  40  or  50  yards  when 
we  found  one  gun-limber  with  two  horses  and  another  with  four  that  had 
-escaped  the  wreck,  and  to  these  we  at  once  limbered  the  two  guns  w^ith  the 
prolonges,  and  so  dragged  them  back  some  distance,  moving  along  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  brook  in  a  sort  of  beaten  track  that  had  evidently  been 
made  by  farm  wagons  in  the  peaceful  days  gone  by.  We  continued  this 
Tetreat  for  some  minutes,  until  we  came  to  a  little  ravine  formed  by  a 
small  rill  that  runs  into  Meadow  Brook  from  the  west,  and  here  we  found 
under  cover  of  the  ravine  another  caisson  that  had  escaped  the  wreck 
in  our  first  position.  Just  at  this  moment  the  enemy  began  to  swarm  up 
irorn  across  the  brook  on  the  flank  of  the  Vermonters  and  Bid  well's  Brigade, 
who  were  still  in  our  front,  fighting  as  no  other  infantry  ever  fought,  and 
threatened  to  take  them  in  reverse.  Here  Gen;  Lewis  A.  Grant,  then  tem 
porarily  commanding  the  Division,  placed  us  in  position  on  a  small  knoll 
just  to  the  left  of  Bid  well,  and  we  at  once  opened  with  our  two  guns  on 
this  flanking  column,  taking  them  obliquely  with  double  canister  as  they 
swung  around  on  the  other  bank  of  the  brook,  and  we  made  their  leading 
line  recoil  back  to  the  pike  and  take  shelter  among  the  fences  and  houses 
of  the  little  hamlet  of  Middletown  ! 

We  were  all  profoundly  impressed  with  Gen.  Lewis  Grant's  bearing 
.on  this  occasion.  When  we  had  got  our  two  guns  out  of  the  wreck  and 


GEX.  LEWIS  A.  GRANT.  291 

•were  hauling  them  along  the  rear  of  Bid  well's  line  Gen.  Grant  was  a  little 
to  the  left  of  the  graveyard,  and,  seeing  us,  he  came  up  and  said : 

"Have  you  any  ammunition  left?" 

Serg't  Yoder  answered  that  we  had  some  ammunition  left. 

"Then  come  with  me,"  said  Gen.  Grant,  leading  the  way  across  the 
rocky  pasture  till  we  passed  the  left  flank  of  Bidwell's  Brigade. 

At  this  point  Meadow  Brook  makes  a  little  bend  to  the  eastward, 
forming  a  small  knoll,  the  crest  of  which  was  a  little  in  advance  of  Bid- 
well's  general  alignment.  Leading  the  way  to  this  knoll  the  General  said  : 

"Go  in  battery  here  and  attend  to  those  folks  coming  out  of  the  vil 
lage  ;  the  men  on  your  right  will  support  you." 

And  then,  as  he  turned  his  horse  to  ride  back  to  the  center  of  the 
division,  he  called  out : 

"Now,  boys,  give  'em  the  best  you've  got ! "  which  we  proceeded  to  do. 

Gen.  Grant  was  a  benevolent-looking  man,  and,  though  this  little  opera 
tion  of  posting  the  remnant  of  the  Battery  was  under  a  terrific  musketry 
fire  from  the  pike  below  the  village  and  the  edge  of  the  town  itself,  at  not 
more  than  60  to  80  rods  range,  as  well  as  a  heavy  fire  of  case  from  a  four- 
gun  battery  in  the  road  leading  westward  out  of  the  town  about  half  a 
mile  away,  he  gave  his  orders  in  a  natural  and  pleasant  tone  of  voice, 
quite  the  same  as  if  he  had  been  placing  our  section  for  review  or  inspec 
tion  !  Just  about  this  time  Gen.  Bidwell  was  killed  within  20  rods  of  us. 

Here  I  must  also  say  a  special  word  about  our  gallant  Bay  State  com 
rades,  previously  mentioned  as  having  been  temporarily  attached  to  our 
Battery  from  McCartney's  1st  Massachusetts  when  it  was  mustered  out. 
Two  of  them  were  killed  and  several  wounded  in  this  murderous  struggle. 
When  they  came  to  us  on  Oct.  4  we  had  welcomed  them,  with  open  arms, 
because  their  old  battery  had  been  one  of  the  best  in  the  service,  and  had 
been  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  Battery  M  for  two  years.  They  made  a 
great  accession  to  our  strength.  At  Cedar  Creek,  which  was  their  only 
battle  in  our  ranks,  every  one  of  them  seemed  to  feel  that  the  honor  of  the 
glorious  old  Revolutionary  Commonwealth  was  in  his  own  personal  keep 
ing,  and  they  "stood  by."  literally,  to  the  last  gasp.  One  of  them  had 
l>een  Sergeant  in  McCartney's  Battery  and  four  of  them  Corporals,  but 
they  cheerfully  accepted  the  reduction  in  rank  incident  to  the  consolida 
tion,  and  the  history  of  Battery  M  would  be  incomplete  without  special 
mention  of  their  heroic  behavior.  Massachusetts  has  reason  to  be  proud 
of  that  little  detachment  of  her  sons.  Their  names  appear  on  another 
page. 

I  have  always  taken  pride  in  the  action  of  the  remnant  of  McKnight's 
Battery  at  this  point.  Our  position  on  the  little  knoll  in  the  bend  of  the 
brook  was  commanding.  It  gave  us  a  clean  sweep  of  the  whole  field  be 
tween  the  brook  and  Middletown  Village,  and  we  could  also  rake  the  front 
of  Bidwell's  line.  The  enemy  made  three  desperate  charges  across  these 
fields  between  8  and  9:30  a.  m.,  at  one  time  coming  so  close  to  the  dis 
mounted  cavalry  on  our  left  that  the  combatants  exchanged  volleys  right 


292  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

across  the  ravine  of  the  little  brook,  which  was  scarcely  100  feet  from  bank 
to  bank.  Three  guns  of  Frank  Taylor's  horse-battery  came  up  on  the  left 
of  this  dismounted  cavalry  brigade  and  helped  them  to  repel  the  attack  by 
a  sharp  enfilade  of  canister.  The  right  of  the  dismounted  cavalry  came 
close  up  to  our  little  knoll.  I  think  those  nearest  us  were  the  5th  or  6th 
Regular  cavalry,  and  they  certainly  held  that  position  with  their  carbines 
as  well  as  any  infantry  could  have  done. 

There  has  never  been  a  doubt  in  my  mind  but  that  the  Verrnonters, 
and  BidwelPs  and  Wheaton's  Brigades,  who  were  in  our  front  there  would 
have  held  that  second  position  if  the  other  troops  on  their  right  had  not 
given  ground,  exposing  their  right  flank.  Bidwell's  Brigade,  on  the  left 
of  the  Vermonters,  was  swung  back  almost  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of 
the  Vermont  Brigade  to  meet  the  flank  attack  now  developing  from  the  di 
rection  of  the  pike.  Meantime,  as  the  First  Division  continued  to  give 
ground  on  our  right,  Warner  had  to  keep  throwing  back  his  right  flank 
until  the  three  Brigades  of  Getty's  Division  assumed  the  position  of  three 
sides  of  a  hollow  square,  our  Battery  being  formed  at  first  in  the  left 
salient  angle  of  it,  and  after  we  were  wrecked,  as  described,  forming  again 
with  two  guns  on  Bidwell's  left  flank.  This  was  what  we  always  termed 
' '  the  second  position  ' '  of  our  division,  and  it  was  almost  exactly  opposite 
—  that  is,  just  across  Meadow  Brook  from  Middletown  Hamlet — and  we 
held  it  for  more  than  an  hour,  with  the  exultant  enemy  closing  in  on  us 
from  three  sides.  As  this  was  by  great  odds  the  closest  and  most  desperate 
fighting  that  I  saw  during  the  whole  war,  and  as  the  behavior  of  our  in 
fantry  on  that  occasion  filled  me  with  unspeakable  admiration,  I  have 
taken  much  pains  to  ascertain,  by  subesquent  investigation,  the  exact  cir 
cumstances  under  which  that  particular  part  of  the  battle  was  fought.  The 
strength  of  our  division  was  as  follows:  Warner's  Brigade,  1,200;  the 
Vermont  Brigade,  1,680:  Bidwell's,  1,050,  or  3,900  muskets  in  the  whole 
division.  Its  artillery  was  the  five  guns  of  our  Battery  at  first,  with 
some  of  Van  Etten's  in  line  with  Warner's  Brigade,  though  the  inevitable 
Stevens,  with  his  unfailing  old  5th  Maine,  had  got  onto  the  high  knoll  op 
posite  Warner's  flank,  and  was  literally  deluging  the  enemy  on  that  side 
with  his  canister.  We  had  three  guns  playing  with  double  canister  on  the 
troops  coming  down  on  our  front,  and  the  other  two  wheeled  to  the  left, 
working  at  the  enemy  across  the  ravine.  Van  Etten,  who,  it  appears,  must 
have  lost  some  of  his  guns  in  the  first  position,  is  said  to  have  had  three  or 
four  here,  with  which  he  stoutly  aided  Warner  in  the  repulse  of  Kershaw's 
first  assault  on  that  position. 

The  official  maps  and  records  show  that  the  force  attacking  us  at  this 
time  was  as  follows :  In  front,  attacking  the  Vermonters,  Ramseur's  Di 
vision,  2,500  :  on  our  left,  assaulting  Bid  well,  Pegram's  Division,  2,200  or 
2,300 ;  on  our  right,  pressing  and  flanking  Warner,  Kershaw's  Division, 
about  2,600,  or  nearly  7,500  muskets  in  all,  with  16  guns.  At  this  time  — 
from  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  past  9  —  the  Second  Division  received  no 
help  or  support  from  any  other  troops  of  the  army,  except  Stevens's  Battery 


THE  SECOND  DIVISION  "Ax  BAY."  293 

and  two  or  three  small  regiments  of  dismounted  cavalry  which  Merritt  had 
formed  along  the  brook  to  prolong  Bidwell's  left.  To  all  intents  and  pur 
poses,  therefore,  Getty's  Division,  singlehanded,  was  standing  off  three  of 
Early 's  Divisions,  and  was  fighting  odds  of  at  least  two  to  one.  This  state 
of  things  seldom  occurred,  as  our  forces  usually  outnumbered  the  Rebels. 
But  in  this  particular  and  most  critical  part  of  Cedar  Creek  the  odds  were 
largely  against  us.  It  is  this  stand  made  by  Getty's  Division  to  which 
Early  refers  in  his  report,  when  he  says :  "I  found  the  Sixth  Corps  posted 
on  the  ridge  west  of  the  pike  and  offering  determined  resistance.  Gen. 
Ramseur  and  Gen.  Pegram  had  asked  for  assistance,  stating  that  they  were 
unable  to  force  this  line.  It  had  completely  arrested  our  progress  at  that 
point ! "  At  this  time  our  First  Division  (Wheaton's)  was  about  half  a  mile 
to  the  right  rear  of  Warner,  reforming,  it  having  been  somewhat  shattered 
in  the  first  onset,  and  our  Third  Division  (Ricketts's)  was  still  to  the  right 
rear  of  Wheaton. 

So  Getty's  Division  was  absolutely  going  it  alone.  For  more  than  an 
hour  this  desperate  and  unequal  struggle  raged  along  the  banks  of  Meadow 
Brook  and  among  the  trees  and  fences  of  the  fields  west  of  Middletown  with 
a  ferocity  that  I  never  saw  paralleled.  But  it  could  not  avail.  The  heroic 
Bidwell  fell  in  the  effort  to  stem  the  tide  that  surged  in  on  him  from  the 
direction  of  the  pike ;  even  Warner's  ''Die-hards, "  as  we  used  to  call  them, 
gave  ground  at  last,  and  that  left  the  Vermonters  with  both  flanks  exposed. 
The  whole  division  then  (between  9  and  10  o'clock)  began  to  retire.  There 
was  no  breaking  and  no  confusion.  If  every  man  of  them  had  been  a  Bengal 
tiger,  fighting  for  life  in  his  native  jungle,  they  could  not  have  retreated 
more  sullenly  nor  dealt  more  destruction  about  them  as  they  fell  back. 
They  retired  in  two  lines,  one  falling  back  through  the  other,  in  perfect 
order,  and  the  Rebels  did  not  follow  them  very  closely.  As  this  retrograde 
movement  began  Gen.  Lewis  Grant  —  still  in  command  of  the  division  — 
sent  an  Aid  to  order  us  out  of  that  and  over  the  little  ravine  and  to  fall  back 
till  further  orders.  So  with  our  two  guns  and  caissons  and  perhaps  28  or 
30  men  —  several  having  rejoined  us  from  the  wreck  —  we  retired  with  the 
prolonges  fixed,  and  hauled  our  crippled  guns  along  the  west  bank  of  the 
brook  until  we  got  on  a  high  knoll  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from 
Middletown,  where,  as  the  pursuit  had  ceased  and  we  saw  the  Vermonters 
and  Warner's  Brigade  halting  in  our  front,  we  faced  again,  halted,  un- 
limbered  and  formed  section.  We  did  not  retreat  any  farther.  Whether 
the  enemy  had  exhausted  himself,  or  whether  he  was  danted  by  the  front 
that  the  Vermonters  and  Warner's  old  Brigade  and  the  remains  of  Bidwell's 
showed,  I  don't  know,  but  he  recoiled  finally  and  fatally  from  this  last 
position.  It  was  here  that  Gen.  Sheridan  found  Getty's  Division  in  line 
when  he  reached  the  field,  and  he  has  put  it  on  record  that  we  were  the 
only  troops  of  the  army  then  offering  resistance.  The  rest  of  the  army 
formed  on  our  right  as  they  came  up,  and  the  line  which  started  on  the 
final  charge  '!left  dressed"  on  the  Second  Division. 

Soon  after  we  halted  here  Capt.  McKnight  came  to  us  again  with  the 


294  THE  CANNONEER. 

No.  2  gun  of  the  left  section  which  had  been  abandoned  in  our  first  posi 
tion,  but  was  retaken  by  the  10th  Vermont,  of  Ricketts's  Division,  and 
hauled  back  by  hand  by  some  of  the  Vermonters,  until  a  limber,  with  the 
wheel  team  left  unscathed,  which  had  belonged  to  one  of  Crook's  batteries, 
was  found,  and  they  hooked  onto  that  and  thus  sent  the  gun  to  the  rear. 
This  gun,  however,  was  not  serviceable  during  the  rest  of  the  day.  My 
recollection  is  that  this  gun  had  been  spiked  by  its  Gunner  when  he  saw 
that  they  would  have  to  abandon  it.  Capt.  McKnight  also  brought  us 
another  caisson,  but  it  was  nearly  empty.  Our  final  position  was  about 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  north  of  Middletown  Village.  The  place  where  we 
halted  was  at  the  point  where  Meadow  Brook  comes  nearest  to  the  line  of  the 
pike,  and  the  time  was  near  noon.  This  was  the  end  of  the  retrograde 
movement  of  the  Sixth  Corps  on  any  part  of  its  line,  and  we  were  put  into 
battery  —  or  rather  into  section — and  opened  again  in  this  position,  but  as 
the  enemy  did  not  come  on  we  ceased  at  the  third  round  ;  in  fact,  as  both 
guns  had  been  drawing  on  the  caisson  that  we  found  in  the  ravine,  as  be 
fore  stated,  and  no  new  supply  had  come  up,  we  had  little  ammunition 
left,  we  having  fired  60  or  70  rounds  per  gun  during  the  hour  or  so  that  we 
where  holding  the  position  on  the  knoll  to  the  left  of  Bid  well's  line, 
when  we  drove  the  enemy's  flankers  back  into  Middletown.  AVhile  in  this 
position  we  were  reorganized  as  a  section,  all  our  remaining  ammunition 
packed  in  the  limbers,  and  the  teams  that  belonged  to  the  caisson  were 
hooked  to  the  guns,  so  that  we  were  in  pretty  good  shape  for  action  again. 
This  was  done  by  Capt.  McKnight  in  a  brief  interval  of  his  staff  duty. 
Perhaps  at  this  point  more  particular  mention  should  be  offered  concerning 
the  stand  made  by  Greenleaf  Stevens  and  his  oth  Maine  Battery,  already 
mentioned. 

I  have  already  remarked  that  at  the  time  when  Getty's  Division 
was  fighting  in  its  second  position  Stevens,  who  had  apparently  been 
retiring  in  the  interval  between  the  right  of  Getty  and  the  left  of  Wheaton, 
formed  his  battery  on  the  knoll  opposite  the  right  flank  of  Warner's  Bri 
gade  and  opened  a  tremendous  fire  of  canister  on  that  part  of  the  enemy's 
line  which  was  advancing  to  envelop  Warner.  These  must  have  been  Ker- 
shaw's  troops,  but  there  was  another  Rebel  division  coming  up  still  beyond 
Kershaw  over  the  ground  vacated  by  our  First  Division.  This,  according 
to  Early's  account,  was  Gordon's  Division,  and  one  brigade  of  it  started  to 
charge  Stevens's  Battery.  According  to  the  best  information,  immediately 
after  the  battle  or  since,  there  was  no  infantry  of  the  First  Division  within 
supporting  distance  of  Stevens  at  that  moment,  as  that  division  was  then 
reforming  at  from  one-third  to  one-half  a  mile  in  his  rear.  But  he  stood 
his  ground  and  repulsed  the  charge  of  Gordon's  troops,  who  did  not  get 
more  than  half  way  up  the  acclivity  of  the  knoll  he  was  holding,  and  who, 
according  to  Gen.  Early's  account,  "recoiled  inconsiderable  confusion." 
Of  course  the  climax  of  my  military  experience  occurred  when  the  enemy 
got  on  top  of  us  in  front  of  the  Cemetery,  of  which,  perhaps,  a  detailed 
description  may  not  be  uninteresting. 


THE    "ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE."  295 

Tn  order  to  clearly  comprehend  what  such  a  rough-and-tunible  light 
meai>s,  it  is  necessary  to  explain  briefly  the  lay  of  the  ground.  \Ve  were 
formed  on  the  crown  of  a  slight  knoll,  which  terminated  abruptly  on  our 
left  flank  in  the  bank  of  the  ravine  formed  by  a  little  branch  of  Meadow 
Brook,  and  our  left  gun — the  remaining  one  of  our  left  section — was  close 
to  this  bank.  In  our  immediate  front  there  was  a  slight  depression,  and 
beyond  that  another  knoll,  and  along  the  brow  of  that  knoll,  about  20  rods 
from  our  position,  was  a  stone  wall,  or  the  remains  of  one,  nearly  parallel 
to  the  line  of  battle.  To  our  right  about  10  rods  was  another  wall  run 
ning  obliquely  to  our  line  and  joining  the  wall  in  our  front  near  the  top  of 
the  knoll.  The  Vermonters  had  rallied  behind  this  last-mentioned  piece 
of  wall,  and  the  Rebels  flanked  them  out  of  it  by  extending  their  own  left 
at  the  same  time  that  their  skirmish  line  attacked  us  in  front.  The  ravine 
to  our  left  was  also  full  of  Rebel  skirmishers,  who  had  come  across  the  field 
between  Meadow  Brook  and  the  pike,  from  which  they  had  just  driven 
our  dismounted  cavalry  flankers.  I  said  that  the  men  on  the  remaining 
gun  of  our  left  section  abandoned  it  as  soon  as  the  enemy  began  to  come 
up  out  of  the  ravine.  No  one  could  blame  them,  because  they  really  had 
no  chance  to  defend  themselves,  as,  in  the  smoke  and  remaining  fog  and 
under  the  cover  of  the  little  ravine,  the  enemy  wTas  right  onto  them  and  in 
their  rear  before  they  could  see  him ;  in  fact,  we  would  all  have  been  per 
fectly  justified  in  abandoning  the  whole  Battery,  because  we  could  not  tell 
how  many  of  the  enemy's  infantry  there  were  in  the  attacking  line,  and 
we  had  absolutely  no  infantry  support,  except  the  handful  of  the  5th  and 
6th  Vermont  who  had  rallied  on  our  right  when  flanked  out  of  their  posi 
tion  behind  the  stone  wall,  and  there  was  no  organized  force  of  our  infantry 
on  the  other  side  of  the  brook  at  all.  In  our  right  and  center  sections  there 
were  23  or  24  Cannoneers,  four  or  five  non-commissioned  officers  and  Lieut. 
Baldwin,  and  none  of  us  had  any  arms  except  revolvers.  It  was,  therefore, 
a  question  whether  about  30  artillerymen,  with  revolvers,  could  repulse  a 
heavy  skirmish  line  of  veteran  infantry,  backed  by  a  main  line  of  battle 
less  than  20  rods  behind  them.  Of  course  our  drivers,  having  their  teams- 
to  look  out  for,  could  not  help  the  Cannoneers  in  such  a  struggle  as  that, 
though  they  were  willing  enough  ! 

As  our  gun  was  on  the  left  of  the  Battery  after  the  crew  of  the  left  gun 
abandoned  it  we  had  to  deal  with  the  Rebels  who  were  coming  up  out  of 
the  ravine,  as  well  as  those  directly  in  our  front.  I  freely  confess  that  when 
I  had  pulled  the  lanyard  the  last  time  my  impulse  was  to  run  ;  but  when  I 
saw  Serg'ts  Yoder  and  Beckhardt  and  Corp'ls  Kennedy,  Benham  and  Knorr, 
and  Cannoneers  Pike,  Marean,  Hummel,  Gresser,  Hunt,  Callahan  and 
others  pull  their  revolvers  to  stand  their  ground,  I  did  not  see  how  I  could 
consistently  desert  them,  and  so  I  pulled,  too,  and  began  shooting  at  the 
Johnnies  coming  up  out  of  the  ravine.  The  usual  revolver  for  the  Can 
noneers  was  the  Navy  Remington  or  the  Colt,  but  the  one  I  had  was  a 
"French  Tranter,"  as  they  were  called,  which  I  had  bought  from  Corp'l 
Ray,  of  the  10th  New  York  Cavalry,  who  had  taken  it  from  the  body  of  a 


296  THE  CAXXOXEEB. 

Confederate  Lieutenant  killed  at  Brandy  Station  the  year  before.  I  used 
to  say  that ' '  I  captured  it, ' '  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  captured  it  with  a  $5 
bill.  However,  it  was  a  captured  weapon — by  proxy  if  not  in  person.  Of 
course  all  six  loads  were  gone  out  of  it  in  as  many  seconds.  My  last  shot 
hit  the  Rebel  Lieutenant  who  was  leading  his  men  and  knocked  him  down. 
He  was  captured  later  in  the  day.  He  had  on  a  hat  that  was  too  large  for 
him,  and,  as  it  afterward  appeared,  he  had.  stuffed  some  paper  or  pasteboard 
under  the  leather  sweat  band  to  make  it  fit,  and  as  he  happened  to  have  it 
pulled  down  over  his  eyes  my  ball  struck  it  just  over  his  left  temple  and 
was  deflected  by  the  paper  wadding  in  his  hat ;  otherwise  it  must  have  gone 
through  his  head.  He  was  so  close  when  I  fired  that  my  flash  singed  his 
eyelashes  and  blew  his  left  cheek  full  of  powder.  Two  of  his  men  were  up 
with  him,  one  on  each  side,  and  Hunt  shot  the  one  on  his  left,  killing  him 
instantly.  But  the  one  on  the  right,  a  wiry  cuss,  bareheaded  and  wearing 
a  red  shirt,  lunged  at  me  with  his  bayonet  as  the  Lieutenant  was  falling. 
I  grabbed  the  haft  of  the  bayonet  (it  was  a  saber  bayonet)  with  my  left  hand, 
and  tried  to  close  with  this  fellow,  intending  to  hammer  him.  over  the  head 
Avith  the  empty  pistol  barrel ;  but  he  jerked  his  musket  loose,  and,  shorten 
ing  for  a  "tierce  thrust,"  struck  at  my  neck.  I  threw  up  my  left  arm, 
"elbow  up  and  wrist  down, ' '  to  parry  for  my  neck,  and  his  bayonet  entered 
my  arm  half  way  between  the  elbow  and  shoulder.  It  penetrated  the  skin 
and  in  my  effort  to  spring  backward  I  caught  my  heel  against  a  stone  or 
something  and  fell  over  back.  Just  as  I  was  falling  I  saw  a  bright  bayonet 
and  rifle  barrel  thrust  almost  under  my  nose,  with  a  blinding  flash  and  re 
port,  and  down  came  Rebel,  musket  and  all,  on  top  of  me — his  musket 
falling  across  my  body.  Intent  on  my  original  purpose,  and  thinking  that 
he  had  only  stumbled,  I  quickly  disengaged  myself,  and,  rising  on  my  left 
hand  and  knee,  struck  him  over  the  left  ear  with  my  pistol  barrel,  reach 
ing  for  him  with  every  muscle  in  my  arm.  This  sagged  him  a  little  to  one 
side,  and  then  I  noticed  that  he  was  "clawing  gravel"  with  his  fingers, 
(the  convulsive  grasping  at  the  grass  and  dirt  which  a  man  dying  of  a  gun 
shot  wound  will  always  do),  and  at  the  same  moment  I  felt  myself  seized 
by  the  shoulder  and  lifted  up,  and  heard,  "  Are  you  hurt  ? ' ' 

Looking  up  I  saw  Serg't  Aldrich,  of  the  Vermonters,  who,  with  a  dozen 
or  so  of  his  men,  had  got  into  our  section  and  either  killed  or  drove  back 
what  few  remained  of  the  Rebel  skirmishers  on  the  side  of  the  ravine.  I 
told  him  I  was  all  right,  and  then  I  noticed  that  our  remaining  men  and 
some  of  the  infantry  were  rallying  on  Beckhardt's  gun  (Xo.  1  of  our  section) 
and  trying  to  drag  it  off  with  the  prolonge.  Just  then  I  glanced  around 
toward  the  ravine,  and  not  seeing  any  more  Rebels  coming  out  of  it,  and 
also  noticing  that  those  in  our  proper  front  were  running  back  toward  their 
main  line,  I  thought  we  could  save  our  gun,  and  began  to  strip  the  pro 
longe  off  the  hooks  for  a  drag-rope.  But  Yoder  called  out  to  me  to  rally 
on  Beck's  (Serg't  Beckhardt's)  gun,  and  so  I  ran  and  caught  hold  of  the 
drag-rope  with  the  rest  of  the  }x>ys.  Serg't  Aldrich  saved  my  life,  because 
that  red-shirted  Rebel  would  to  a  dead  certaintv  have  bavoneted  me  on  the 


SOME  DEADLY  WORK.  297 

spot  if  Aldrich  had  not  killed  him  as  I  was  falling.  In  such  a  ruction  as 
that  was  there  is  no  time  to  surrender  or  to  take  prisoners.  Fortunately 
such  situations  seldom  happen  even  in  the  fiercest  battles,  but  when  they 
do  it  is  always  "either  kill  or  die."  It  is  idle  to  talk  about  "giving 
quarter"  under  such  circumstances.  A  hand-to-hand  light  between  an 
infantryman  with  musket  and  bayonet  and  a  Cannoneer  with  a  revolver 
among  the  guns  of  a  battery  must  result  in  the  death  of  one  of  them  999 
times  out  of  1,000. 

While  this  was  going  on  Hunt  had  had  a  similar  encounter  with  the 
other  infantryman  who  came  on  with  the  Lieutenant.  As  he  described  it 
to  rue  that  night,  Hunt  whirled  to  meet  this  infantryman  just  as  I  shot  at 
the  Lieutenant,  and  the  man  plunged  his  bayonet  at  him,  striking  him  at 
the  left  side  just  above  the  ends  of  the  short  ribs,  and  the  point  of  the 
bayonet  glanced  off  the  ribs  and  ran  round  in  the  skin  and  flesh,  making  a 
furrow  four  or  five  inches  long.  As  Pat  felt  the  cold  steel  in  his  side  he 
grabted  the  musket  by  the  barrel  with  his  left  hand  and  jerked  the  Eebel 
toward  him,  and  gave  it  to  him  with  his  revolver  right  in  the  face  and  eyes  ! 
He  lay  there  on  his  face,  with  his  arms  all  sprawling  out  and  his  hands 
grasping  dead  leaves  and  gravelstones,  when  we  retook  the  position  in  the 
afternoon.  Pat's  bullet  had  struck  him  exactly  in  the  left  eye,  destroying 
that  member,  passing  through  his  head  and  going  out  just  back  of  the 
right  ear.  The  flash  of  Pat's  powder  had  burned  his  eyebrows  and  black 
ened  his  face  all  over.  He  never  knew  what  hurt  him.  I  asked  Pat  if  he 
didn't  think  his  time  had  come  when  he  felt  the  cold  steel  in  his  ribs. 

"No,  be ,"  replied  the  invincible  Irishman,  "I  thought  that  Rebel's 

time  had  come,  the  bosthoon  !  "  (Irish  for  blockhead).  Pat's  courage  was 
of  that  peculiar  kind  which  always  leads  a  man  to  believe  that  his  opponent 
has  no  show  at  all. 

The  one  that  tried  to  bayonet  me  was  lying  also  on  his  face  where  he 
fell.  Examining  his  body  I  found  that  Serg't  Aldrich's  bullet  had  struck 
him  in  the  left  side  about  three  inches  below  the  arm-pit,  passed  through 
in  a  slightly  downward  direction,  and  came  out  at  the  end  of  the  upper 
short  rib  on  the  right  side.  His  red  shirt  was  scorched  and  blackened  on 
the  side  where  the  bullet  went  in,  the  muzzle  of  Aldrich's  Springfield  hav 
ing  been  within  three  feet  of  his  side  when  the  Sergeant  pulled  his  fatal 
trigger. 

The  Lieutenant  whom  I  had  hit  in  the  head  and  stunned  was  not 
there,  but  in  a  few  minutes  one  of  the  men  found  him  down  in  the  ravine. 
He  had  encountered  hard  luck.  Lying  there  stunned  for  some  time  after 
we  had  left  the  position,  he  came  to  his  senses  and  got  up  immediately, 
intending  to  join  their  main  line,  which  had  then  just  begun  to  advance  to 
its  third  and  last  position  ;  but  he  said  he  had  hardly  gotten  on  his  feet 
when  he  was  hit  in  the  knee.  This  shot  dislocated  his  knee-cap  and 
paralyzed  his  leg,  but  he  crawled  down  into  the  ravine  for  shelter,  and 
was  left  behind  by  the  enemy  when  they  fell  back,  as  were  quite  a  number 
of  other  wounded  who  had  also  crawled  into  the  ravine,  and  we  had  to 


298  THE  CANNONEER. 

take  care  of  them.  I  was  very  glad  to  find  this  Lieutenant  alive.  Seeing 
the  "fur  fly  "  from  his  hat  when  I  shot,  I  was  of  the  opinion  that  I  had 
killed  him,  particularly  as  he  was  so  completely  stunned  that  he  fell  and 
lay  perfectly  still.  During  the  few  minutes  that  we  remained  there  in  our 
final  advance  I  did  all  I  could  for  him,  but  could  not  give  him  anything 
but  water,  as  I  had  left  my  haversack  in  the  tent  when  we  turned  out  so 
suddenly  in  the  morning,  and  hadn't  a  morsel  to  eat  for  my  own  use. 

The  wreck  of  the  Battery — dead  and  wounded  men,  killed  and  crippled 
horses,  etc.  —  where  Baldwin  had  attempted  to  limber  up,  was  the  worst  I 
had  ever  seen.  The  left  section  had  suffered  severely  in  our  first  position, 
but  three  or  four  more  of  its  men  had  been  hit  in  the  attempt  to  limber  up 
the  remaining  (No.  1)  gun  of  that  section  in  the  second  position.  In  our 
right  and  center  sections  29  or|30  men  had  been  killed,  wounded  or  taken, 
besides  Lieut.  Baldwin,  though  most  of  the  wounded  and  prisoners,  and 
all  the  captured  guns,  were  retaken  later  in  the  evening.  The  Lieutenant 
was  among  them.  He  had  been  shot  down,  but  tried  to  get  up,  and  was 
again  both  shot  and  bayoneted,  though  some  of  the  wounded  Rebels  who 
lay  in  the  position  averred  that  their  men  were  not  to  blame  for  wounding 
Baldwin  the  second  time,  because  they  said  he  refused  to  surrender,  and 
was  in  the  act  of  cocking  his  revolver  when  bayoneted.  He  was  taken 
back  to  the  hospital  at  Winchester,  where  he  died  from  his  wounds  a  few 
days  after  the  battle.  He  was  a  fine,  generous  officer,  and  much  liked  by 
all  the  men. 

There  was  always  a  difference  of  opinion  among  the  men  about  the 
enemy's  treatment  of  Baldwin.  Some  of  the  boys  who  went  to  see  him  in 
the  hospital  at  Winchester,  where  he  was  slowly  dying,  said  that  he  cor 
roborated  the  statement  of  the  Rebels  about  his  having  refused  to  surrender. 
But  Capt.  McKnight  used  to  say  that  if  Baldwin  did  refuse  to  surrender,  it 
was  because  he  thought  it  would  not  do  him  any  good  if  he  did,  as  it  was 
known  that  he  had  already  killed  one  of  their  infantrymen  and  wounded 
another  with  his  revolvers  when  they  first  struck  us,  and  as  he  was  in  front 
of  the  guns  they  no  doubt  sought  vengeance  on  him.  However,  though  in 
camp  one  of  the  kindest  of  officers  and  gentlest  of  men,  Baldwin  was  so 
constituted  that  the  sight  of  blood  or  "the  saltpeter  getting  up  his  nose" 
always  turned  him  into  a  regular  Bengal  tiger,  and  so  it  is  probable  that  he 
owed  his  untimely  death  to  his  courage  getting  the  better  of  his  discretion. 
Some  idea  of  the  desperate  character  of  this  combat  may  be  had  from  the 
fact  that  when  the  position  was  retaken  in  the  afternoon  19  dead  men  were 
found  within  the  Battery  front — artillerymen,  Vermonters  and  Rebels — all 
mixed  up  and  piled  across  one  anothei  in  some  instances,  and  of  these  five 
showed  no  marks  but  those  of  the  cold  steel !  And,  besides  these,  sev 
eral  of  the  wounded  had  been  bayoneted.  It  is  doubtful  whether,  on  such 
a  limited  front  and  among  so  few  troops,  the  cold  steel  was  ever  so  freely 
used  in  any  battle  as  it  was  by  the  5th  and  6th  Vermont  and  the  5th 
and  8th  South  Carolina  among  the  guns  of  McKnight's  Battery  at  Cedar 
Creek. 


GEX.  LEWIS  A.  GRANT'S  COMPLIMENTS. 

Of  this  affair  Gen.  Lewis  A.  Grant  says:  "McKnight's  guns  were 
fiercely  fought  to  the  last  moment,  and  then  desperately  defended  both  by 
the  artillerymen  and  by  some  of  my  brigade.  And  the  subsequent  behavior 
of  the  remnant  of  the  Battery  rescued  from  the  wreck  was  beyond  praise  ! " 
Comrade  Charles  E.  Thompson,  of  Company  I,  5th  Vermont,  writes  as 
follows : 

I  was  in  it  right  there  in  what  remained  of  Company  I,  5th  Vermont,  and 
did  what  little  I  could  to  help  save  McKnight's  Battery,  of  the  5th  Regulars. 
And  I  will  say  that  those  Regular  Cannoneers  stood  by  their  guns  that  morning 
in  a  way  that  I  never  have  seen  the  like  of.  Serg't  Aldrich  belonged  to  the  6th 
Vermont.  I  do  not  know  what  has  become  of  him.  But  we  just  made  up  our 
minds  that  we  would  help  that  battery  out,  and  we  did.  If  their  horses  had  not 
been  killed  they  would  have  got  all  their  guns  away.  As  it  was  they  had  to 
leave  some,  but  got  away  with  two  or  three  by  hand.  But  the  Rebels  did  not 
get  a  chance  to  use  the  others.  After  they  had  got  their  two  or  three  guns  away 
we  staid  there  and  drove  the  Rebels  out,  and  when  we  retired  there  were  several 
on  both  sides  lying  dead  among  the  guns  who  had  been  killed  by  bayonets.  I 
saw  dead  men  lying  across  other  dead  men  in  the  position  held  by  the  Battery. 
It  was  the  most  desperate  fight  our  old  Vermont  Brigade  ever  had,  except  the 
Bloody  Angle  at  Spottsylvania.  It  was  just  about  like  that,  but  at  the  Angle 
we  attacked  earthworks,  while  at  Cedar  Creek  we  were  both  on  open  ground. 
McKnight's  men  certainly  did  stand  by  their  guns,  and  man  y  of  them  died  there. 
We  loved  McKnight's  5th  United  States  Battery  because  it  had  been  with  us  a 
long  time  and  was  always  ready  for  action. 

Comrade  Thompson  also  entertainingly  tells  how  Gen.  Lewis  A.  Grant 
got  his  soubriquet  of  "Aunt  Liddy,"  by  which  he  was  known  throughout 
the  Sixth  Corps : 

This  name  was  given  to  him  by  Jim  Mason,  of  Company  G,  5th  Vermont, 
when  Gen.  Grant  was  Colonel  of  that  regiment.  Jim  Mason  was  a  good  soldier, 
but  he  would  get  drunk  whenever  he  could  get  hold  of  liquor.  One  time  he  got 
drunk,  and  Col.  Grant,  who  had  let  him  off  easy  several  times,  ordered  him  to 
be  punished.  Then  Jim  said  :  "  Colonel,  you  remind  me  of  my  Aunt  Liddy." 
I  don't  know  what  that  meant,  but  all  the  boys  seemed  to  catch  it  up  in  the  5th 
Vermont,  and  it  extended  through  the  brigade,  so  that  when  Col.  Grant  was 
promoted  to  be  Brigadier-General  all  the  boys  called  him  "  Aunt  Liddy." 

The  following  is  the  text  of  Capt.  McKnight's  official  report  of  the 
action  of  his  Battery  at  Cedar  Creek : 

In  accordance  with  orders  dated  headquarters  Artillery  Brigade,  Sixth 
Corps,  Oct.  22,  1864,  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  the  Battery  under  my 
command  went  into  position  on  the  morning  of  the  19th  inst.  50  yards  to  the 
right  and  front  of  the  Battery  camp.  The  fire  of  the  Battery  was  delayed  fully 
10  minutes  by  the  train  of  wagons  passing  to  its  front.  This  obstruction  re 
moved,  it  opened  with  spherical  case  at  a  range  of  600  yards.  Second  Lieut. 
Frederick  Robinson,  in  charge  of  left  section,  was  wounded  after  the  third  dis 
charge  of  his  guns  and  left  for  the  rear.  The  Guidon  Bearer  was  also  wounded 
at  this  time.  The  heavy  fire  to  which  the  Battery  was  subjected  made  it  neces 
sary  to  retire  to  another  position.  All  the  guns  were  successfully  drawn  off 
with  the  exception  of  one,  which  was  abandoned  owing  to  the  wounding  of  the 
Sergeant,  Gunner,  two  Cannoneers,  and  killing  of  lead  Driver  and  four  horses. 
This  gun  was  shortly  after  recaptured  and  drawn  off  by  the  infantry.  [This 
was  the  gun  recaptured  and  hauled  off  by  the  10th  Vermont.]  The  right 


'300  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

and  center  sections  were  again  placed  in  position  a  short  distance  to  the 
rear  of  the  original  line  under  a  heavy  fire  from  the  front  and  left  flank.  This 
line  was  untenable.  The  rapid  wounding  of  men  and  horses  required  its 
abandonment.  Lieut.  Henry  M.  Baldwin  was  ordered  to  take  charge  of  two 
guns  and  Sergt.  Daniel  B.  Yoder  a  third,  each  gun  having  but  two  horses  left 
to  the  limbers  for  removal  to  the  rear.  Two  of  the  three  guns  were  success 
fully  withdrawn.  The  third,  owing  to  both  of  the  horses  being  wounded,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Lieut.  Henry  M.  Baldwin,  the  Guidon  Bearer, 
and  guidon  were  captured  at  the  same  time.  Lieut.  Baldwin  was  wounded 
after  his  surrender  of  self  and  gun.  The  right  gun  of  right  section,  under 
charge  of  Corp'l  William  H.  H.  Kennedy,  at  same  time  acting  as  Gunner,  and 
right  gun  of  center  section,  under  charge  of  Serg't  Henry  Beckhardt,  with 

•  Corp'l  Charles  A.  Knorr  as  Gunner,  were  brought  into  action  for  the  third  time, 
using  canister  with  good  effect.  [Capt.  McKnight  here  refers  to  the  position 
in  which  the  two  guns  were  placed  by  Gen.  Lewis  A.  Grant,  personally.]  These 
two  gvms  were  the  last  to  leave  the  field.  I  would  respectfully  call  the  atten 
tion  of  the  Colonel  Commanding  Artillery  Brigade  to  the  brave  and  gallant 

•conduct  of  Lieut.  Henry  M.  Baldwin  throughout  the  entire  engagement;  also 
to  the  cool  bravery  of  Serg't  Beckhardt,  Corp'ls  William  H.  H.  Kennedy  and 
Charles  A.  Knorr  in  fighting  their  guns  to  the  last  moment  up  to  threat  of 
capture,  and  to  Serg't  Daniel  B.  Yoder  in  successfully  saving  his  gun  from 
capture ;  the  return  of  casualties,  material  and  ammunition  expended ;  also 

'  how  lost  accompanies  this  report. 

Comrade  T.  H.  White,  a  Lieutenant  of  the  10th  Vermont,  which  was 
in  the  Third  Division,  writes  a  description  of  the  recapture  of  our  gun  by 
his  regiment  which  is  very  interesting,  but  which  cannot  be  reproduced  in 
full  for  lack  of  space. 

Ccl.  William  W.  Henry,  of  the  10th  Vermont,  speaks  in  his  report  of 
" recapturing  three  guns  belonging  to  Battery  M,  5th  Regulars,"  etc. 
Two  of  those  guns  must  have  been  Van  Etten's,  as  we  lost  only  one  in 
that  position  (our  first  position),  and  this  one  was  returned  to  us  later  on, 
as  before  mentioned. 

With  regard  to  the  action  of  Wheaton's  (formerly  Russell's)  First 
Division,  Comrade  Clinton  Beckwith,  of  the  121st  New  York  ("Upton's 
Regulars"),  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  "field  return  of  Sept.  30, 
1864,"  does  not  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  actual  strength  of  the  First  Division 
at  Cedar  Creek,  Get  19.  When  the  Sixth  Corps  returned  from  Berry ville, 
Just  before  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek,  the  whole  Third  Brigade  of  the  First 
Division  was  left  at  Winchester,  and  took  no  part  in  the  battle.  This  bri 
gade,  then  commanded  by  Col.  Edwards,  constituted  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
half  of  the  division,  being  composed  of  seven  regiments,  as  follows  :  17th 
Pennsylvania  Cavalry  (dismounted),  49th,  82d  and  119th  Pennsylvania, 
2d  Rhode  Island,  37th  Massachusetts  and  the  5th  Wisconsin.  The  absence 
of  this  brigade  had  a  serious  effect  on  the  First  Division  that  day,  as  the 
other  two  brigades  were  only  the  remnants  of  the  "Jerseys,"  then  consist 
ing  of  three  small  regiments,  the  whole  of  which  were  not  equal  to  more 
than  one  strong  regiment,  and  Upton's  Brigade,  of  which  the  95th  and 
96th  Pennsylvania  were  consolidated  under  command  of  a  Captain,  while 
the  121st  and  65th  New  York  did  not  muster  more  than  120  muskets  each, 
and  the  2d  Connecticut  Heavies  did  not  have  more  than  300.  Hence  the 


THE  FINAL  POSITION.  301 

whole  of  the  First  Division,  Sixth  Corps,  could  not  have  mustered  over 
1,800  muskets,  if  so  many,  at  Cedar  Creek. 

Again,  Beckwith  says  that  the  official  statement  of  losses  in  the  differ 
ent  divisions  of  the  Sixth  Corps  is  misleading,  unless  due  account  is  taken 
of  the  disparity  of  numhers  engaged.  He  says  that  the  official  casualty 
lists  show  that  the  Second  Division  lost  738  and  the  Third  706,  all  told, 
while  the  First  lost  569.  But  he  wants  the  student  of  history  to  bear  in 
mind  that  the  loss  of  738  in  the  Second  Division  was  out  of  a  total  present 
of  about  4,000,  the  loss  of  706  in  the  Third  Division  was  out  of  3,600  to 
3,800,  while  the  loss  of  569  in  the  First  Division  was  out  of  the  two  skele 
ton  brigades  before  mentioned,  which  could  not  muster  2,000  muskets  be 
tween  them,  and  yet  were  expected  to  hold  a  division  front,  and  that,  too, 
as  it  happened,  on  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  line ! 

Resuming  the  narrative  of  the  battle,  it  was  noon  or  a  little  past  when 
Getty's  Division  formed  up  in  its  last  position.  Our  flank  had  now  been 
extended  across  Meadow  Brook  and  rested  on  the  pike,  the  Vermonters 
holding  the  ground  between  the  brook  and  the  pike,  our  two  guns,  together 
with  the  one  that  had  been  recaptured  by  the  10th  Vermont  and  returned 
to  us,  being  in  line  with  them  near  the  road  —  or,  rather,  formed  in  section 
just  behind  them.  Two  more  of  our  caissons  had  also  rejoined  us,  but  they 
did  not  contain  much  ammunition,  and  had  only  their  wheel  teams  left. 
Beyond  the  pike  the  line  was  prolonged  by  dismounted  cavalry  of  Merritt's 
Division,  and  they  had  some  guns  of  Pierce's  and  Frank  Taylor's  horse- 
batteries  in  line  with  them.  The  other  troops  of  the  Sixth  Corps — Wheaton 's 
and  Ricketts's  Divisions — on  our  right  appeared  to  be  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
or  so  to  the  rear,  but  soon  came  up  and  prolonged  our  line  to  the  right, 
Ricketts  in  the  center  and  Wheaton  on  the  right  of  the  corps.  There  was 
a  stone  wall  running  parallel  to  our  line  about  60  rods  in  front,  and  the 
enemy  occupied  this  with  skirmishers  and  brought  12  or  14  guns  into  po 
sition  on  the  knoll  beyond,  to  the  right  of  where  our  Battery  had  been 
wrecked  in  the  morning.  He  opened  from  these  guns  about  2  o'clock,  or 
half-past.  This  elicited  a  vigorous  and  effective  response  from  Stevens, 
Adams  and  Van  Etten,  and  for  20  or  30  minutes  there  was  a  pretty  artillery 
duel  at  good  case  range.  We  were  unable  to  take  part  in  this,  as  we  had 
no  case  shot,  and,  in  fact,  not  much  ammunition  of  any  kind.  But  our  help 
was  not  needed,  as  the  enemy  was  soon  induced,  by  the  arguments  of  Stevens, 
Adams  and  Van  Etten,  to  haul  his  guns  off  the  ridge  and  over  behind  the 
road  in  his  rear,  which  was  known  as  the  Forge  Road.  After  this  artillery 
fire  ceased  there  was  a  complete  lull  for  nearly  two  hours,  during  which 
time  Gen.  Sheridan  came  down  as  far  as  the  pike,  inspecting  the  line.  He 
had  been  on  the  field  about  three  hours  at  that  time,  and,  it  appears,  had 
personally  rallied  the  Nineteenth  Corps  and  put  it  in  position  on  the  right 
of  Wheaton 's  Division. 

It  was  said  that  when  Sheridan  reached  the  field  he  came  to  the  Sec 
ond  Division,  but,  finding  that  it  was  doing  pretty  well,  went  over  to  the 


302 


THE  CAXSOXEER. 


right,  where  the  "magic  of  his  presence"  was  more  needed.  When  he 
saw  the  remnant  of  our  Battery  and  how  stanchly  we  were  standing  hy, 
he  called  out  to  us  cheerily,  "Your  are  all  right,  hoys !  Stick  to  'eni.  We'll 
have  your  other  guns  back  before  dark ! " 

Whereupon  we  gave  him 
three  cheers.  As  he  rode  back 
from  the  pike  toward  the 

r*       (^jji^M^raur       *    ,7  \  i  a         right  he  told  some  of  the  men 

of  the  Vermont  Brigade  that 
we  would  "go  at  'em  again 
in  a  few  minutes,  and  would 
knock  seven  different  kinds 

of out  of  'em. ' '     During 

this  lull  of  the  fight  it  had  oc 
curred  to  me  that  I  had  better 
reload  my  old  revolver.  To 
my  astonishment  my  cart 
ridge  box  was  clean  gone  from 
my  belt.  It  must  have  been 
shot  away  while  we  were  en 
gaged  in  the  rough-and- 
tumble  in  our  second  position. 
But  I  did  not  feel  it,  though 
it  must  have  taken  quite  a 
SHERIDAN  INSPECTING  THE  LINE.  blow  to  break  the  two  leather 

straps  by  which  the  regulation  pistol  cartridge  box  was  fastened  to  the  belt. 
It  was  a  serious  loss  to  me,  because  rny  revolver  used  the  pin  fire  metallic 
cartridge,  which  I  had  to  buy,  as  the  Government  did  not  issue  them,  and 
I  had  recently  filled  the  cartridge  box  at  a  cost  of  10  cents  per  cartridge  ! 
If  anything  yet  written  does  full  justice  to  Getty's  Division  at  Cedar 
Creek  it  has  escaped  my  notice.  I  knew  nothing  of  other  commands  ex 
cept  by  hearsay,  but  was  personally  conversant  with  some  part  of  the  ac 
tion  of  that  Division,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  Battery  M  owes  a  debt  of 
gratitude  and  admiration  to  the  unconquerable  infantry  of  those  devoted 
brigades,  particularly  the  Yermonters,  who  stood  by  us  through  thick  and 
thin  ;  who  came  in  at  the  supreme  moment  and  helped  us  save  part  of  our 
guns  when  we  were  making  a  fight  for  them  that  involved  bayonet  wounds 
and  scorching  men's  hair  and  eyebrows  with  revolver-flashes ;  who  con 
tested  two  positions,  one  after  the  other,  with  bayonet  and  musket  butt  to 
enable  us  to  drag  our  remaining  guns  off  by  hand,  until  we  could  get  room 
to  work  them  again;  who  never  turned  their  backs,  much  less  ever  ' '  broke, ' 
and  who,  wThen  the  tide  turned,  though  nearly  half  butchered,  were 
the  first  to  carry  the  enemy's  position  at  the  stone  wall  in  their  front ! 
Nobody — Gen.  Sheridan  or  otherwise — ever  "rallied  "  these  men,  because 
they  never  required  any  rallying.  Getty's  Division  might  have  been 
buried  at  Cedar  Creek,  but  not  broken  ! 


THE  GRAXD  ADVANCE.  303 

The  Second  Division  of  the  Sixth  Corps  had  glory  to  spare  before  it 
•ever  saw  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  It  had  wrenched  fame  and  honor  from 
the  teeth  of  many  a  fierce  battle;  but  its  old  white  Greek  cross  never 
gleamed  with  such  fadeless  splendor  as  in  the  fog  and  murk  and  wreck  of 
that  October  morning,  when  it  marked  the  spot  where  stood  and  stayed  the 
Rock  of  Cedar  Creek  !  Such  were  the  men  of  Warner's  Brigade,  the  62d 
New  York  and  93d,  98th,  102d  and  139th  Pennsylvania  ;  of  Lewis  Grant's 
Vermont  Brigade,  the  1st  Heavy  Artillery,  the  2d,  3d,  4th,  5th  and  6th 
Vermont ;  of  BidwelFs  Third  Brigade,  the  1st  Maine  Veterans,  43d,  49th, 
77th  and  122d  New  York  and  61st  Pennsylvania. 

Soon  after  Gen.  Sheridan  left  our  part  of  the  line  in  the  afternoon 
sounds  of  heavy  battle  began  to  roll  up  again  from  the  extreme  right  where 
the  Nineteenth  Corps  had  assumed  the  offensive,  and  immediately  there 
was  a  general  advance  all  along  the  line.  The  Vermonters  and  Warner's 
Brigade  dashed  at  the  stone  wall  in  our  front,  swept  it  from,  end  to  end 
in  10  minutes,  and  then  pressed  on  for  the  second  line  of  the  enemy 
formed  along  the  crossroads  leading  to  the  pike  at  Middletown.  They 
took  this  position  also,  making  an  advance  of  nearly  a  mile,  and  rout 
ing  two  formations  of  the  enemy  in  less  than  30  minutes.  This  does  not 
look  much  as  if  Getty's  troops  were  demoralized  by  the  disasters  of  the 
fore  part  of  the  day.  In  making  this  dash  they  had  advanced  more  rapidly 
than  the  troops  on  their  right,  and  so  halted  on  the  line  of  the  crossroads 
for  several  minutes.  The  cavalry  on  our  left  of  the  pike  had  also  routed 
the  enemy's  infantry  out  of  the  hanilet  of  Middletown,  and  were  pursuing 
him  up  the  pike  and  through  the  fields  on  both  sides  of  it  with  relentless 
fury.  As  for  us,  we  simply  ' '  followed  along ' '  on  the  pike  with  our  two 
guns,  but  took  no  further  part  in  the  fray.  However,  we  were  ready  for 
any  service  that  might  be  required  of  us,  as  we  had  filled  up  our  limber- 
chests  during  the  lull  in  the  battle,  and,  though  our  caissons  were  empty, 
we  had  canister  enough  in  the  limbers  for  any  use  likely  to  be  needed  that 
day.  But  it  was  now  evident  on  every  part  of  the  line  that  the  battletide 
had  turned,  for  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  our  troops  were  rushing  forward 
everywhere,  and  except  now  and  then  a  feeble  stand  by  some  isolated  bri 
gade  of  the  enemy  there  was  no  material  resistance  to  our  advance,  and 
even  to  those  that  could  not  see  the  lines  there  w^as  no  mistaking  the  mean 
ing  of  the  steadily  receding  roar  of  the  musketry  on  our  right. 

The  exactitude  of  history  requires  it  to  be  stated  that,  in  the  first 
attack  at  4  o'clock,  the  Third  Brigade  staggered  a  little  when  they  struck 
the  stone  wall.  But  they  had  the  hardest  part  of  the  line  to  force,  and, 
besides,  they  missed  the  towering  form,  the  great  voice,  and  the  grand 
bearing  of  their  chivalric  Bid  well,  who  had  led  them  in  every  battle  for 
two  years.  However,  the  Vermonters  and  the  First  Brigade  did  not  stop, 
and  this,  with  the  efforts  of  Col.  French  and  the  personal  presence  of  Gen. 
Getty  on  their  line,  soon  restored  the  Third  Brigade,  and  after  that  they 
kept  step  and  step  with  the  rest  of  the  division. 

About  5  o'clock  we  halted  our  section  on  the  pike  about  half  a  mile 


304  THE  CAXXOXEEK. 

above  Middletown  and  waited  there  till  dark,  when  we  moved  up  near  the 
bridge  over  Cedar  Creek  and  bivouacked  there  for  the  night  between  Bid- 
well's  Brigade  and  the  Vermonters,  or  rather  among  the  remnants  of  them, 
a  little  in  advance  of  our  old  camp,  which  we  found  had  been  completely 
plundered  by  the  enemy. 

If  anything  could  be  comical  after  such  a  day  of  butchery  as  that  had 
been,  it  was  the  appearance  of  our  old  camp  under  the  skilful  manipulation 
of  Early 's  ragamuffins !  Everything  in  the  shape  of  tent,  blanket,  knap 
sack,  haversack,  canteen,  and  all  the  little  odds  and  ends  of  camp  life,  had 
been  carried  off  or  ripped  open  and  left  empty  on  the  ground.  The  ground 
was  littered  with  ragged,  lousy  tatters  of  gray  Rebel  blouses  and  breeches, 
where  they  had  just  peeled  themselves  of  their  old  duds  to  put  on  our 
spick-span  artillery  dress  uniforms  that  wre  had  left  in  our  valises !  Such 
of  our  stuff  as  they  could  not  carry  away  they  had  thrown  upon  our  smol 
dering  campfires  to  be  consumed ;  but  in  the  evening  of  Cedar  Creek  we 
all  surveyed  this  w^reck  with  great  complacency,  reflecting,  as  we  heard 
the  incessant  crash  of  the  cavalry  carbines  in  pursuit,  that  Johnny  had 
paid,  or  was  paying,  pretty  dear  for  his  whistle ! 

As  we  had  left  everything  in  our  camp  when  we  turned  out  in  the 
morning  hardly  any  of  us  had  haversacks,  except  some  that  we  had  picked 
up  along  the  road.  Most  of  us  had  lost  our  valises,  blankets,  tents,  and 
everything  except  the  clothing  we  had  on.  I  had  gotten  a  nice  new  over 
coat  of  ' '  officers'  cloth, ' '  lined  with  yellow  flannel,  from  the  saddle  on  a 
dead  horse  by  the  roadside,  as  we  came  up  the  pike,  and  this  overcoat  was 
worth  three  of  the  regulation  kind,  both  for  comfort  and  durability.  I 
kept  it  during  the  remainder  of  the  war  and  for  several  years  after  I  got 
home.  But  I  had  not  run  across  any  haversacks,  and  as  no  rations  were  to 
be  had  that  night,  owing  to  the  total  demoralization  of  our  trams,  we  bid 
fair  to  go  supperless  to  bed  ;  but  Lieut.  Taylor,  learning  of  our  condition, 
promptly  ordered  his  cooks  to  give  us  coffee,  and  his  men  divided  writh  us 
their  rations  of  hardtack  and  boiled  beef,  so  we  got  along  pretty  well,  all 
things  considered.  The  Vermont  infantry  and  Bid  well's  and  Warner's 
men  were  not  much  better  off  than  we  were,  all  their  camp  equipage  hav 
ing  been  sacrificed  in  the  morning  as  well  as  ours. 

Shortly  after  dark  some  cavalrymen  brought  a  squad  of  Rebel  prisoners 
back  to  our  position  and  halted  them  by  the  roadside  near  us,  and  we 
strolled  over  to  look  at  them.  They  were  all  more  or  less  hit,  but  none  of 
them  disabled,  and  it  is  a  fact  that  they  did  not  seem  very  sorry.  The 
horse  batterymen  had  given  them  some  coffee,  and  they  not  only  drank  up 
every  drop  of  it,  but  ate  up  the  grounds  from  the  bottom  of  the  kettle  ! 
There  were  about  20  of  them,  and  they  were  guarded  by  a  Corporal  and 
three  cavalrymen  from  the  regiment  that  had  captured  them  —  the  8th  New 
York.  The  Corporal  was  instructing  his  men  about  the  reliefs  for  the  night, 
when  a  Rebel  Sergeant  interrupted  him.  He  said : 

"Corporal,  I  beg  your  pardon ;  but  are  you  going  to  give  us  some  more 
of  that  coffee  in  the  morning?" 


WRECK  OF  EARLY 's  ARMY. 


305 


"Of  course,  Johnny,  you  will  get  the  same  grub  that  we  get.  This 
ain't  no  Anderson ville !  " 

"Well,  then,  old  boy,  you  can  all  bunk  in  and  go  to  sleep  ;  for  you  bet 
we  ain't  going  to  run  away  from  that  coffee ! " 

We  all,  both  artillery  and  cavalrymen,  staid  there  chatting  with  our 
Rebel  friends  for  some  time.  A  cavalryman  had  been  sent  to  look  up  a 
Surgeon,  as  one  of  the  Rebel  prisoners  had  been  hit  in  the  wrist  by  a  small 
piece  of  shell  and  was  bleeding  badly,  though  not  otherwise  severely  hurt. 
I  took  a  piece  of  lanyard  out  of  my  pouch,  tied  it,  passed  it  round  his  wrist 
above  the  wound,  got  a  short 
piece  of  twig  and  twisted  it 
like  a  bowstring.  "Now, 
Johnny,"  I  said,  "you  can 
hang  onto  that  stick.  When 
ever  the  stoppage  of  the  blood 
begins  to  make  your  arm 
ache  you  can  ease  up  on  the 
twist  and  let  it  bleed  a  little, 
then  tighten  it  up  again. 
After  a  while  it  will  probably 
*  clot  up '  and  stop  of  its  own 
accord."  The  cavalryman 
did  not  find  any  Surgeon,  but 
the  Johnny  followed  my  pre 
scription,  and  when  I  saw 
them  march  off  down  the  pike 
the  next  morning  his  wrist 
had  quit  bleeding.  At  that 
time  such  little  courtesies  AMATEUR  SURGERY. 

were  a  matter  of  course.     It  was  only  in  actual  battle  that  the  veterans  of 
the  two  armies  were  really  enemies. 

Cedar  Creek  was  won ! 

Far  as  we  could  hear  in  the  distance  or  see  in  the  darkness,  away  up 
the  pike  and  away  into  the  night,  ever  and  anon  floated  back  to  us  the 
crashing  and  the  flashing  of  the  cavalry  carbines  and  the  yells  of  Custer's 
savage  horsemen  as  they  fiercely  finished  the  wreck  of  Early 's  army.  We 
were  camped  close  to  the  creek,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  procession 
which  poured  across  it  —  of  prisoners,  of  cannon  captured  or  recaptured,  of 
baggage  wagons,  of  ambulances  full  of  wounded  and  dying  men,  and  every 
imaginable  remnant  and  wreckage  of  a  routed  and  fleeing  army  —  would 
never  stop. 

Among  the  incidents  of  this  tragic  night  was  the  capture  of  Gen. 
Stephen  D.  Ramseur,  of  the  Rebel  army,  mortally  wounded,  in  an  ambu 
lance.  He  was  captured  by  a  Sergeant  of  the  8th  New  York  Cavalry  with 
other  men  of  that  gallant  regiment.  When  Gen.  Ramseur  was  brought  in 
it  was  said  that  our  men  tenderly  offered  him  every  attention,  but  he  calmly 

20 


306 


THE  CAXXOXEEK. 


said  that  it  was  no  use,  as  he  had  but  a  few  minutes  to  live.  He  expressed 
a  desire  to  see  Frank  Wheatou  and  Emory  Upton,  but  Ramseur  was  dead 
or  unconscious  before  Wheaton  could  come  to  him. 

The  Vermonters  —  or  the  invincible  remnant  of  what  had  been  the 
Vermont  Brigade  in  the  morning  —  were  bivouacked  right  on  the  bank  Of 
the  creek,  and  they  built  huge  bonfires,  which  cast  a  lurid  glare  over  the 
interminable  procession  of  ' '  plunder ' '  that  our  busy  horsemen  were  strew 
ing  in  their  fiery  track.  Our  little  fragment  of  what  had  been  Battery  M 
was  halted  at  the  roadside  just  behind  the  Vermonters,  and  as  each  fresh 
Thatch  of  prisoners,  guns  or  wagons,  would  come  into  the  light  of  their  fires 
we  would  catch  up  their  cheers  and  yell  fit  to  split  our  throats.  Tired  as 
wre  were,  there  was  little  sleep  that  night.  The  hours  flew  on — 8,  9,  10, 
11  o'clock  at  night  came,  and  still  the  fierce  flashing  of  the  cavalry  car 
bines  ever  and  anon  lit  up  the  dark  fields  and  gloomy  wood-edges  away  to 
our  front  and  right.  ' '  Will  it  ever  end  ? ' '  asked  one  of  our  men  of  another, 
.as  we  stood  by  the  roadside  peering  out  into  the  gloom  !  "  Does  the  cav 
alry  calculate  to  fight  all  night  ?  There  can't  be  much  left  of  the  Johnnies 
"by  this  time ! "  And  so  on.  But  by  midnight  things  quieted  down. 
There  is  a  limit  to  horseflesh  if  not  to  human  flesh,  and  so  at  last  even 
Custer's  troopers  were  silent.  Then  we  fell  down  on  the  ground,  right  in 
our  tracks,  and  slept  the  sleep  of  men  who  have  done  a  full  day's  work ! 

All  the  batteries  of  the  Sixth  Corps  suffered  heavily  at  Cedar  Creek. 
Lamb's  (C)  1st  Rhode  Island,  which  was  with  Wheaton's  (First)  Division 
in  the  morning,  got  into  a  hot  place  and  was  made  the  subject  of  a  regular 
rough-and-tumble  fight  between  Upton's  Brigade  (65th  and  121st  New 
York,  95th  and  96th  Pennsylvania,  and  2d  Connecticut  Heavy)  and  a 
strong  force  of  the  enemy.  The  Rebels  got  in  the  battery  once,  but  were 
driven  out  of  it.  Then  their  second  line  took  it  again,  and  they  were  a 
second  time  dispossessed  of  it  by  a  charge  of  Upton's  Brigade,  led  by  Gen. 
Horatio  G.  Wright  in  person.  Gen.  Wright  then  ordered  the  battery  to 
the  rear.  They  got  away  with  all  their  guns,  but  nearly  all  their  men  and 
horses  were  killed  or  disabled.  This  battery  had  suffered  heavily  in  a 
number  of  previous  battles. 

This  ended  the  Valley  campaign  so  far  as  Battery  M  was  concerned. 
It  had  been  one  of  the  most  dramatic  campaigns  in  history,  and  its  effect 
upon  the  general  conflict  was  doubtless  more  decisive  than  any  other  cam 
paign  of  the  war  except  Appomattox  itself.  These  results  had  not  been 
cheaply  won,  as  the  following  melancholy  summary  of  losses  shows : 


Command. 

Opequan. 

Fisher's 
Hill. 

Cedar 
Creek. 

Total. 

1,699 

388 

2,126 

4,113 

2074 

114 

2383 

4571 

794 

162 

960 

1,916 

451 

14 

196 

661 

Total         

5,018 

578 

5,665 

11,261 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  SIXTH  CORPS.  307 

The  usual  impossibility  of  ascertaining  the  Confederate  losses  accu 
rately  exists  in  this  case,  but  it  is  immaterial,  as  their  casualties  may  be 
summarily  stated  in  the  remark  that  Early 's  army,  as  a  fighting  force, 
practically  ceased  to  exist  after  Cedar  Creek. 

The  loss  of  Battery  M,  all  suffered  at  Cedar  Creek,  was  as  follows : 
Killed,  died  of  wounds,  or  missing  and  never  heard  from — Lieut.  Henry 
M.  Baldwin  ;  Privates  Barber,  Jacob  Hummell,  Lewis  Leib,  George  Apple- 
ton,  Jos.  Marean,  Jacob  Gabriel  and  Jesse  Hyde.  Wounded — Lieut.  Fred 
Robinson ;  Sergt's  Volkman  and  Weidner ;  Corp'l  Wesley,  Bugler  Bow 
man  (Acting  Guidon),  Dick  Isaacs,  Valentine  Bush,  Geo.  Delaney,  Engel- 
faardt,  Peter  Gerome,  Gus  Hoffman,  Alvin  Hubbard,  John  Hall,  William 
Kline,  Charley  Le  Van,  John  Mullan,  Olsen,  Henry  Rothenberg,  Jacob 
Shipman,  John  Seaman,  Charley  Pike,  John  Richardson,  Andrew  Sturde- 
vant,  John  Wright,  John  Gordon,  John  Carroll,  Edward  Callahan,  Abram 
Hesser ;  besides,  Pat  Hunt  and  about  10  or  12  others  slightly.  Of  the 
killed  two,  Lieut.  Baldwin  and  Joseph  Marean,  were  bayoneted.  Of  the 
wounded  five  or  six  had  no  marks  other  than  the  cold  steel.  In  addition 
to  these  there  were  19  or  20  captured,  but  all  except  four  of  our  prisoners 
were  rescued  by  the  cavalry.  Several  of  the  wounded  remained  with  the 
Battery  or  were  soon  after  discharged  on  expiration  of  term. 

The  organization  of  the  Sixth  Corps  at  Cedar  Creek  was  as  follows  : 

GENERAL.  COMMANDING. 

Brig.-Gens.  James  B.  Ricketts  and  George  W.  Getty  and  Maj.-Gen.  Horatio  G. 

Wright. 

ESCORT. 

1st  Michigan  Cavalry,  Company  G,  Lieut.  William  H.  Wheeler. 

FIRST  DIVISION. 
Brig.-Gen.  Frank  Wheaton. 
First  Brigade  — Col.  William  H.  Penrose,  Lieut.-Col.  Edward  L.  Campbell  and 

Capt.  Baldwin  Hufty. 
4th  New  Jersey,  Capt.  Baldwin  Hufty. 

10th  New  Jersey,  Maj.  Lambert  Boeman  and  Capt.  Charles  D.  Claypool. 
15th  New  Jersey,  Lieut.-Col.  Edward  L.  Campbell  and  Capt.  James  W. 

Peurose. 
Second  Brigade  —  Cols.  Joseph  E.  Hamblin  and  Ranald  S.  Mackenzie  and 

Lieut.-Col.  Egbert  Olcott. 
2d  Connecticut  Heavy  Artillery,  Col.  Ranald  S.  Mackenzie  and  Maj. 

Edward  W.  Jones. 
65th  New  York,  Lieut.-Col.  Thomas  H.  Higinbotham  and  Capt.  Henry  C. 

Fisk. 

121st  New  York,  Lieut.-Col.  Egbert  Olcott  and  Capt.  Daniel  D.  Jackson. 
95th  and  96th  Pennsylvania,  Capt.  John  Harper. 

Third  Brigade  — Col.  Oliver  Edwards. 
[At  Winchester,  Va.,  and  not  engaged  in  the  battle.] 
37th  Massachusetts,  Lieut.-Col.  George  L.  Montague. 
49th  Pennsylvania,  Lieut.  Col.  Bayuton  J.  Hickman. 
82d   Pennsylvania,  Col.  Isaac  C.  Bassett. 
119th  Pennsylvania,  Lieut.-Col.  Gideon  Clark. 
2d   Rhode  Island  (battalion),  Capt.  Elisha  H.  Rhodes. 
5th  Wisconsin  (battalion),  Maj.  Charles  W.  Kempf. 
17th  Pennsylvania  Cavalry,  Maj.  Coe  Durland. 


308  THE  CANNONEER. 

SECOND  DIVISION. 
Briff.-Gens.  George  W.  Getty  and  Lewis  A.  Grant. 

First  Brigade  — Col.  James  M.  Warner. 
62d  New  York,  Lieut.-Col.  Theodore  B.  Hamilton. 
93d  Pennsylvania,  Capt.  David  C.  Keller. 

98th  Pennsylvania,  Lieut.-Col.  John  B.  Kohler  and  Capt.  Gottfried  Bauer. 
102d  Pennsylvania,  Maj.  James  H.  Coleman  and  Capt.  James  Patchell. 
139th  Pennsylvania,  Lieut.-Col.  John  G.  Parr. 

Second  Brigade— Brig.-Gen.  Lewis  A.  Grant  and  Lieut.-Col.  Amasa  S.  Tracy. 
3d  Vermont,  Lieut.-Col.  Amasa  S.  Tracy  and  Capt.  Elijah  Wales. 
3d  Vermont  (battalion),  Maj.  Horace  W.  Floyd. 
4th  Vermont,  Maj.  Horace  W.  Floyd  and  Col.  George  P.  Foster. 
6th  Vermont,  Maj.  Enoch  E.  Johnson. 

6th  Vermont  (battalion),  Capts.  Edwin  R.  Kinney  and  Wm  J.  Sperry. 
llth  Vermont  (1st  Heavy  Artillery),  Lieut.-Col.  Charles  Hunsdon. 
Third  Brigade—  Brig.-Gen.  Daniel  D.  Bidwell  and  Lieut.-Col.  Winsor  B.  French. 
1st  Maine  (veteran),  Maj.  Stephen  C.  Fletcher. 
43d  New  York  (battalion),  Maj.  Charles  A.  Milliken. 
49th  New  York  (battalion),  Lieut.-Col.  Erastus  D.  Holt. 
77th  New  York,  Lieut.-Col.  Winsor  B.  French. 
133d  New  York,  Lieut.-Col.  Augutus  W.  D  wight  and  Maj.  Jabez  M. 

Brower. 
61st  Pennsylvania  (battalion),  Capt.  David  J.  Taylor. 

THIRD  DIVISION. 
Col.  J.  Warren  Keifer. 
First  Brigade  — Col.  William  Emerson. 
14th  New  Jersey,  Capt.  Jacob  J.  Janeway. 

106th  New  York,  Capt.  Alvah  W.  Briggs  and  Capt.  Peter  Robertson. 
151st  New  York,  Capt.  Browning  N.  Wiles  and  Capt.  Hiram  A.  Kimball. 
184th  New  York  (battalion),  Maj.  William  D.  Ferguson. 
87th  Pennsylvania  (battalion),  Capt.  Edgar  M.  Ruhl  and  Capt.  John  A. 

Salsbury. 
10th  Vermont,  Col.  William  W.  Henry  and  Capt.  Henry  H.  Dewey. 

Second  Brigade— Col.  William  H.  Ball. 
6th  Maryland,  Maj.  Joseph  C.  Hill. 
9th  New  York  Heavy  Artillery,  Maj.  James  W.  Snyder. 
110th  Ohio,  Lieut.-Col.  Otho  H.  Binkley. 
133d  Ohio,  Lieut.-Col.  Moses  M.  Granger. 

136th  Ohio,  Maj.  George  W.  Vorhes  and  Capt.  George  W.  Hoge. 
67th  Pennsylvania,  Lieut.  John  F.  Young. 
138th  Pennsylvania,  Maj.  Lewis  A.  May. 

Artillery  Brigade— Col.  Charles  H.  Tompkins. 
Maine  Light,  5th  Battery  (E),  Capt.  Greenleaf  T.  Stevens. 
New  York  Light,  1st  Battery,  Lieut.  Orsamus  R.  Van  Etten. 
1st  Rhode  Island  Light,  Battery  C,  Lieut.  Jacob  H.  Lamb. 
1st  Rhode  Island  Light,  Battery  G,  Capt.  George  W.  Adams. 
5th  United  States,  Battery  M,  Capt.  James  McKnight. 

The  immediate  successor  of  Gen.  Bidwell  in  command  of  the  Third 
Brigade,  Second  Division,  was  Col.  Winsor  B.  French,  of  the  77th  New 
York.  The  ranking  Colonel  of  the  brigade,  however,  was  Thomas  W. 
Hyde,  of  the  1st  Maine  Veterans.  Col.  Hyde  had  taken  20  days'  leave 
about  the  1st  of  October,  when  it  was  thought  that  the  Valley  campaign 
was  ended.  He  arrived  on  the  field  late  at  night  on  the  19th,  and  ex 
pressed  regret  at  his  absence  from  the  battle,  saying  that  he  had  lost  the 


"THE  YANKEE  VOLUNTEER."  309 

only  opportunity  he  ever  would  have  to  be  promoted  on  the  field  of  bat 
tle  !  I  don't  believe  any  man  could  really  regret  absence  from  a  battle, 
provided  the  fact  entailed  no  discredit,  but  if  there  ever  was  such  a  man 
it  was  certainly  Tom  Hyde,  as  his  men  called  him.  He  commanded  the 
brigade  during  the  rest  of  the  war. 

During  the  publication  of  the  original  sketch  as  a  serial  in  the  NATIONAL 
TRIBUNE  I  received  an  anonymous  letter  inclosing  some  verses  in  a  femi 
nine  hand  and  signed  "A  Yermonter's  Daughter,"  the  letter  stating  that 
the  father  of  the  writer  of  the  verses  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  Yermont 
Brigade  and  was  now  deceased,  and  that  the  sketch  had  stirred  in  her 
memory  her  father's  stories  of  Cedar  Creek.  The  letter  and  verses  have 
been  mislaid  and  lost,  but  I  read  the  latter  over  so  many  times  that  I  can 
remember  some  of  them.  They  show  a  rugged  power  of  thought  and  feeling 
hardly  in  keeping  with  the  sex  of  their  author.  The  following  are  all  that 
I  can  remember  of  the  verses  : 

I  sing-  not  of  the  boy  or  man, 

Nor  of  "  the  Cannoneer ;  " 
But  of  all  manhood's  purest  gold, 

The  Yankee  Volunteer. 

Each  star  that  shines  upon  the  Flag 

Bears  tribute  in  each  ray, 
To  Yankee  Volunteers  of  yore 

When  blazing  Freedom's  way. 

There  is  a  strain  of  Yankee  blood— 

Cool,  steady,  sure  and  slow  — 
And  never  f oeman  braved  its  steel 

But  lies  there—  stark  and  low ! 

•  *  *  * 
The  Yankee,  peaceful  in  his  home, 

Obeyed  e'en  Slavery's  laws, 
But  when  Rebellion  raised  its  front 
He  showed  the  tiger's  claws. 

*  *  *  * 
Then,  what  he  did  or  how  he  died 

All  history  may  say  ; 
From  reddened  pave  of  Baltimore 
Till  Appomattox  Day ! 


CHAPTER  XII. 


OEDERED  BACK  TO  PETERSBURG  —  A  FEW  DAYS  IN  WASHINGTON  — 
CALL  ON  MR.  LINCOLN  —  RETURN  TO  THE  BATTERY  — MORE 
"SOFT  DUTY"  —  BACK  TO  THE  ORDNANCE  WHARF  AGAIN — EM 
BARK  WITH  EESERVE  AMMUNITION  —  ROUGH  VOYAGE — FORT 
FISHER  — Two  DAYS'  BOMBARDMENT  —  TREMENDOUS  FIRE  OF 
THE  FLEET — LANDING  OF  THE  TROOPS  IN  THE  SURF — THE 
FORT  TAKEN  BY  INFANTRY  ASSAULT — DESPERATE  DEFENSE  — 
THE  BATTLE  IN  THE  FORT  ITSELF  —  LANDING  THE  SIEGE 
GUNS — RETURN  TO  THE  WHARF  —  A  PLEASANT  WINTER  —  BACK 
TO  DIVISION  HEADQUARTERS— PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  SPRING 
CAMPAIGN. 

E  now  went  into  camp  in  a  pleasant 
spot  near  Kernstown,  whither  the 
whole  army  —  or  at  least  the  in 
fantry  —  came  soon  afterward.  After 
a  few  days  in  this  camp  Hunt  and  I 
reported  to  a  squad  of  other  detached 
men  and  followed  the  escort  of  the 
captured  cannon  to  Washington.  We 
had  quite  an  ovation,  marching 
through  the  Avenue  up  past  the  White 
House,  where  Mr.  Lincoln  reviewed 
the  procession.  After  this  ceremony 
was  over  the  detached  men  were 
marched  to  an  old  freight  shed  near 
the  Seventh-street  wharf  and  turned 
over  to  an  officer  of  the  Quarter 
master's  Department.  We  were  all 
pretty  much  dilapidated,  and  this 
officer  furnished  us  complete  new  out 
fits  of  clothing  and  ' '  kits. ' ' 

He  said  we  would  not  go  to  Peters 
burg  just.then,  because  they  were 
going  to  send  a  boatload  or  two  of 
horses  to  the  army  from  the  corral  in 
a  few  days,  and  he  would  detain  us  to  handle  and  take  care  of  them,  which 
would  be  just  as  well  as  to  send  a  special  detail  with  them.  He  told  us 
that  we  would  be  under  his  charge  temporarily,  formed  us  into  a  provisional 
company,  appointed  Lance  Sergeants  and  Corporals,  established  a  guard 


CALLING  ON  THE  PRESIDENT.  311 

and  gave  city  passes  to  all  the  men,  "good  until  revoked."  We  found  that 
there  was  a  very  kind  feeling  in  Washington  toward  the  men  who  were  in 
the  Valley  campaign. 

The  only  event  of  this  brief  sojourn  at  the  Capital  was  a  visit  to  the 
President,  for  which  I  was  indebted  to  the  Member  of  Congress  from  our 
district,  Mr.  Hubbard.  When  I  was  introduced  to  the  President  he  took 
me  by  the  hand  and  in  a  very  kind  tone  asked  how  old  I  was,  how  long  I 
had  been  in  the  service,  etc. ,  and  what  battles  I  had  seen.  So  I  began  to 
go  over  the  list,  and  when  I  got  to  the  end  he  said,  "That  is  a  very  long 
record  for  such  a  short  boy  ! ' ' 

There  were  15  or  20  people  looking  on,  three  being  Major-Generals, 
and  they  all  laughed  at  this,  Major-Generals  included.  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
so  much  taller  than  I  was  that  I  had  to  look  almost  straight  up  at  him, 
and  he  seemed  to  be  much  amused  at  my  self  possession  and  the  precision 
of  my  replies  to  his  questions.  He  was  feeling  pretty  good  at  that  time,  I 
guess,  because  the  election  returns  were  in,  assuring  his  re-election  by  an 
enormous  majority.  But  he  was  very  busy,  and  could  not  spend  much 
time  with  me,  so  he  said,  in  conclusion  : 

"  This  trouble  will  soon  be  over,  my  son.  Then  you  must  come  and 
see  me  again.  I  will  have  more  time  to  talk  with  you  then.  I  always 
love  to  talk  with  our  soldier  boys.  Bless  you 'all — every  one!  Good 
morning. ' ' 

I  remember  being  much  struck  with  his  way  of  referring  to  the  war  as 
"this  trouble."  But  everything  he  said  was  so  plain  and  homelike,  and 
there  was  such  kindness  in  his  tone,  that  he  made  me  feel  as  completely  at 
home  as  if  I  had  been  in  the  Battery  camp.  Of  course  there  was  nothing 
remarkable  in  this  interview,  but  it  was  to  me  one  of  the  chief  events  of 
my  life.  My  "get-up"  that  day  was  worthy  of  the  occasion.  I  had  the 
day  before,  in  anticipation  of  this  great  event,  bought  a  neat  linen  stand- 
up  collar  and  a  pair  of  short  gantlet  gloves,  together  with  a  fine  ' '  McClel- 
lan  cap,"  such  as  officers  wore.  The  next  morning,  as  soon  as,  we  had  our 
coffee,  I  proceeded  to  ' '  style  up ' '  within  an  inch  of  my  life.  As  before 
stated,  we  had  all  drawn  complete  new  outfits  of  underclothing,  uniforms, 
boots,  overcoats,  blankets,  etc.,  and,  as  I  was  detailed  by  the  good  old 
Quartermaster  to  issue  it  and  make  the  return,  I  had  opportunity  to  pick 
it  all  over.  The  result  was  that  I  got  a  complete  uniform — jacket,  blouse 
and  pantaloons  that  fitted  me  as  if  they  were  made  to  order.  So  I  arrayed 
myself  in  the  brand-new  jacket  and  trousers,  with  my  linen  collar  care 
fully  pinned  to  the  neckband  of  my  woolen  shirt,  and  just  showing  its 
white  edge  above  the  red  braid  on  my  jacket  collar.  I  blacked  my  boots, 
belt  and  holster  until  you  could  see  your  face  in  them,  and  fastened  my 
trousers  legs  under  the  shanks  of  my  boots  with  straps.  And  finally,  tilt 
ing  my  new  McClellan  cap  a  little  over  my  left  eye  and  pulling  on  my  buff 
gantlet  gloves,  I  started  for  the  White  House. 

The  only  other  incident  was  an  affair  in  which  Pat  Hunt,  a  man  named 
George  Copeland,  from  Ohio,  and  I,  had  a  little  "personal  affair"  with 


312 


THE  CANNONEER. 


two  Army  officers  and  a  Navy  Paymaster  in  citizens'  clothes,  in  which  the 
"rank  and  file  "  had  a  long  ways  the  best  of  it,  bnt  the  "social  condi 
tions  ' '  under  which  the  encounter  took  place  were  such  that  nothing  hap 
pened  to  us  worse  than  being  sent  back  to  our  quarters  under  guard. 

Finally,  as  the  horses  which  our  Quartermaster  had  intended  to  send 
to  the  front  in  our  charge  were  not  forthcoming,  he  decided  to  send  us  on, 
and  we  were  ordered  on  board  a  boat  one  morning  about  the  middle  of 
November.  The  Mate  of  the  boat  assigned  us  to  a  space  on  the  bow  for 
ward  of  the  "scuttle-butt"  or  water  tank,  where  we  had  plenty  of  room, 
and  there  was  a  canvas  awning  over  that  part  of  the  bow,  so  that  we  were 
pretty  comfortable.  Our  compagnons  du  voyage  were  several  hundred  re 
cruits  ''going  to  the  front, "  and  they  made  things  pretty  lively.  They 
did  not  disturb  us  but  once, 
and  that  was  doubtless  our 
fault  as  much  as  theirs,  inas 
much  as  the  trouble  was 
brought  on  by  Pat  Hunt's 
reckless  impetuosity.  The 
row  did  not  get  very  far  be 
fore  it  was  quelled  by  the 
detachment  of  Provost  Guards 
who  had  charge  of  the  re 
cruits.  Of  course  the  "re 
cruits  of  1864 ' '  were,  in  the 
main,  honest  soldiers  and  did 
their  duty.  But  the  bounty 
and  substitute  system  brought 
large  numbers  of  worthless; 
characters  into  the  ranks,  and 
the  bad  behavior  of  these ! 
made  necessary  the  shameful 
spectacle  of  soldiers  being 
"driven  to  the  front"  like 
cattle  by  Provost  Guards 
—  a  shame  which  the  good 
ones  felt  keenly,  and  for  which 

they  had    the    sympathy  of  PAT  HUNT. 

every  veteran.  [From  a  tintype.] 

Arriving  at  City  Point,  our  boatload  of  "recruits"  were  marched  out 
and  chucked  into  the  "bull  pen,"  while  our  squad  of  detached  artillery 
men  reported  themselves  to  artillery  headquarters,  and  were  ordered  to 
rejoin  their  respective  batteries.  I  hated  to  part  with  Hunt,  whose  battery 
was  then  in  the  reserve.  He  had  been  my  blanket-mate,  and  we  had  been 
on  the  same  gun  ever  since  July.  He  was  one  of  the  most  perfect  speci 
mens  of  physical  manhood,  and  while  not  free  from  weaknesses  of  appetite 
and  temper,  was  one  of  the  bravest  and  most  generous  fellows  that  ever 


PAT  HUNT'S  REMINISCENCES.  313 

lived.  Born  in  Tipperary  in  1834  or  1835,  he  had  enlisted  in  the  British 
army  in  1854  and  had  served  through  both  the  Crimean  War  and  the 
Indian  Mutiny.  Discharged  at  Halifax  in  the  Spring  of  1861,  at  the  end 
of  seven  years'  service,  he  had  come  to  Boston,  where  he  immediately 
joined  one  of  the  Massachusetts  regiments,  from  which,  after  various 
vicissitudes,  he  found  his  way  into  the  5th  Regulars  as  a  detached  volun 
teer.  When  ready  for  "Sunday  morning  inspection"  he  was  one  of  the 
handsomest  soldiers  I  ever  saw. 

Though  a  Tipperary  Irishman,  Pat's  service  in  the  British  Army  had 
been  in  a  Scotch  regiment,  the  90th,  or  "Perthshire  Light  Infantry."  I 
wish  this  volume  afforded  space  for  some  of  his  stories  about  Sebastopol  or, 
tetter  than  those,  his  accounts  of  the  Indian  Mutiny. 

"That  was  what  you  might  call  war ! "  he  would  say,  "where  nobody 
gave  or  expected  quarter,  and  where  prisoners  wer'n't  taken  when  we  could 
help  it !  And  when  we  got  them  we  blew  them  from  the  muzzles  of  the 
guns!!" 

The  most  thrilling  of  his  recitals  was  that  of  the  storm  and  sacking  of 
the  fortified  palace  of  the  Kings  of  Oude,  called  the  "Imaumbarra"  or  the 
"Kaiserbagh,"  at  Lucknow.  This,  he  said,  was  a  large  quadrangle  about 
800  feet  by  1,000,  surrounded  by  a  wall  25  or  30  feet  high  ;  in  fact,  a  regular 
fortress,  and  full  of  palaces,  mosques,  temples  and  other  structures,  and  in 
it  was  the  accumulated  wealth  of  the  royal  family  of  Oude  for  six  centuries. 

"There  was  a  glut  in  the  jewel  market,"  Pat  would  say,  "after  our 
regiment  and  the  38th  Brummagems  (the  Birmingham  Regiment)  and  the 
79th  Cameron  Highlanders  got  in  !  " 

Then  I  would  ask  him,  "How  did  you  get  in,  Pat?  You  couldn't 
scale  such  high  walls !  " 

"No,  indeed,  we  blew  in  the  main  gate  and  went  in  by  column  of 
platoons,  breaking  to  right  and  left  as  we  got  in.  We  polished  off  the 
'  Paudies '  (Sepoys)  of  the  garrison  in  about  20  minutes  and  then  we  went 
for  the  'loot'  (plunder)." 

"What  did  you  do  with  the  Sepoys?" 

"Butchered  every of  them,  to  be  sure!    There  was 

alxrat  800  of  us  in  the  three  regiments,  and  they  took  over  1,100  dead 
'  Paudies '  out  of  the  enclosure  for  burial.  It  was  worse  than  the  fresh  beef 
slaughter  pen  below  City  Point ! " 

"But  didn't  you  spare  any  of  them?" 

"Divil  a  one;  what  was  the  use?  The  artillery  would  have  blown 
them  from  the  muzzles  that  same  evening.  It  was  a  mercy  to  them  for  us 
to  shoot  or  bayonet  them  ! " 

"Did  you  get  any  of  the  'loot,'  as  you  call  it?" 

"Oh,  yes ;  I  got  a  diamond  brooch  and  a  necklace.  But  I  sold  them 
to  an  officer  for  a  tenth  of  their  worth,  and  the  money  went,  where  all  my 
money  has  gone,  to  the  devil  for  drink  and  gambling !  Besides  the  jewels, 
the  King's  harem  was  in  the  Kaiserbagh,  with  some  of  the  handsomest 
women  of  India  in  it.  The  boys  were  making  a  break  for  the  '  Zenana ' 


314 


THE  CANNONEER. 


(harem),  but  Gen.  Mansfield,  our  Brigade  Commander,  put  a  strong  guard 
around  it,  and  no  one  but  officers  was  allowed  to  go  in  ! " 

And  so  on,  almost  without  limit.  Pat's  stories  led  me  to  study  the 
history  of  these  affairs  after  the  war,  and  I  was  often  astonished  at  the  ac 
curacy  of  his  detailed  accounts. 

I  reported  at  once  to  the  old  Battery,  then  in  camp  near  Fort  Dushane, 
on  the  line  just  below  Globe  Tavern,  where  Warren  had  his  headquarters. 
During  my  absence  its  personnel  had  been  almost  totally  transformed. 
Some  few  of  the  veteran  detached  volunteers  had  left  before  I  went  away, 
but  now  they  were  all  gone.  Between  June  and  September  the  following- 
named  men  were  mustered  out :  Serg't  Thorpe,  Henry  Burkhardt,  Henry 
Foster,  Dan  Shemmell,  Bill  Bartholomew,  Bill  Gleason,  Jim  Lewis,  Ned 
Armstrong,  Seymour  Colby,  John  McLaughlin,  John  Sanborn,  John  Fill- 
more,  Dave  Smith,  Charley  Harris,  Al  Hunt,  Jack  Lee,  Ben  Stillman,  Billy 
Hinman,  Lew  Marshall,  Win  Williams,  John  Dolphin,  Andy  Bishop,  John 
Johnson,  Charley  Levins,  Dan  Ackerman,  Mate  Freeman,  John  Fulton, 
Horace  Ripley,  Alph  Collins,  Larry  Dowling,  Henry  Beacham,  Tom 
Price,  Pat  Wallace,  John  Small,  Frank  Blair,  Tom  Clark,  and  perhaps  two 
or  three  others  of  the  Wisconsin  volunteers  ;  John  W.  Knight,  of  the  19th 
Indiana,  and  all  the  surviving  24th  Michigan  men  —  Theodore  Bache. 
Lyman  Blakeley,  Henry  Brown,  Theo.  Grover,  James  Gunsollis,  Frank 
Kellogg,  Morris,  Oakley,  Orth,  Bob  Reed,  Bill  Thornton,  George  Walker, 
and  maybe  another  one  or  two  whose 
names  escape  me.  But  one  of  the 
original  New  York  volunteers  remained, 
Frank  McCormick.  Ferd  Detloff  was 
the  only  Wisconsin  volunteer  remain 
ing  —  ' '  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans, ' '  I 
called  him  !  This  was  over  50  men  gone 
from  the  Battery,  who  were  mainly  vet 
erans  of  all  its  battles,  and  their  supe 
riors  as  artillerymen  did  not  exist.  Of 
what  we  used  to  call  the  ' '  New  Regu 
lars  ' '  who  joined  in  the  Winter  of  1863- 
64  and  went  through  the  Virginia  cam 
paign,  there  were  still  with  the  Battery 
Barthe,  Bowers,  Colgan,  Cooper,  Daniels, 
Degraff,  Delaney,  Doran,  Fitzpatrick, 
Folliss,  Givens,  Hartley,  the  two  Har- 
veys,  Hill,  Hutchinson,  Tom  Kelley, 
Maddice,  Maloney,  Milton,  Obst,  Starke, 
two  of  the  Smiths,  Dick  Tea,  Frank  Stinemuller,  Fred  Volker,  Mike  Wil 
liams,  Pete  Williams  and  John  Wilsey  (now  restored  to  his  Sergeantcy). 
The  others  had  fallen  by  the  wayside  in  the  Wilderness  and  Spottsylvania 
and  Bethesda,  or  had  succumbed  to  the  dreadful  privations  of  the  cam  - 
In  August  and  September  the  Battery  had  been  fully  recruited  up, 


FERD  DETLOFF. 

1  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans.1 


THE  BATTERY  REORGANIZED. 


315 


partly  by  more  of  the  "New  Regulars"  and  partly  by  volunteers  from  the 
6th  and  15th  New  York  Heavy,  with  live  or  six  who  had  been  transferred 
from  Griffin's  Battery  upon  its  consolidation  with  Battery  G,  of  the  5th 
Regulars.  A  young  Lieutenant  from  the  2d  Regulars,  William  P.  Vose, 
had  also  been  assigned  to  it  in  the  latter  part  of  July.  He  was  a  graduate 
of  the  West  Point  class  of  1864,  and  was  the  first  West  Pointer  on  duty  in 
the  Battery  since  Capt.  Campbell  was  wounded  at  Antietam,  two  years 
before. 

The  roster  of  the  Battery  in  November,  1864,  was  as  follows : 

Lieutenant  Commanding-,  John  Mitchell. 

Second  Lieutenant— William  P.  Vose.    Sergeants— Ben.  Gilkie, 
Orderly  Sergeant— Henry  Moore.  Robert  Moore. 

Sergeants— James  Maher,  Buglers— William  Castor, 

John  Wilsey,  Max  Reece. 

Corporals  and  Privates 

John  Grant, 

Barney  Ginnity. 

Charles  Gunther, 

Thomas  Hackett, 

Dan  Hagar, 

William  Hartley, 

William  Harvey,  1st, 

William  Harvey,  2d, 

William  Hepburne, 

Henry  C.  Hill, 

Ed  Hinterthur, 

William  Hutchinson, 

Bill  Jackson, 

Sidney  Jay, 

Charles  Johnson, 

Michael  Joyce, 

John  Judge, 

Pat  Keen  an, 

Andy  Kelly, 

Pat  Kelly, 

Tom  Kelley, 

James  Long, 

George  McBlack, 

Jerry  McCarty, 

William  McLinton, 

John  McReady, 

Joseph  McGivern, 

James  McKenna,  * 

Barney  McMahon, 

William  McNally, 

John  Maddice, 

Tom  Maloney, 

Sam  Majors, 

Charles  Meehan, 

James  Michaels, 

Jacob  Miller, 

"  Boney  "  Milton, 


Henry  Adey, 
Thomas  Anderson, 
Henry  Arnst, 
John  Alexander, 
James  Alexander, 
John  Barthe, 
Justin  Beebe, 
Henry  Bonn, 
George  Bowers, 
Ed  Brown, 
William  Buck, 
Stephen  Cebree, 
Patrick  Colgan, 
Patrick  Collins, 
Ben  Cooper, 
Henry  Corey, 
James  Cunningham, 
Charley  Daniels, 
Jay  DeGraff, 
Ben  De  Lannoy, 
Clayton  Dinsmore, 
Andrew  Delaney, 
James  Donahoe, 
John  Doran, 
John  Doyle, 
Thomas  Evans, 
Anthony  Erringer, 
James  Fagan, 
Conrad  Farber, 
Tom  Fitzpatrick, 
Chris.  Frame, 
Adolph  Freytong, 
John  Fryer, 
James  Gallagher, 
John  Gautenbein, 
Warren  Givens, 
Ellis  Graham, 


William  Moss, 
John  Murphy, 
Chris.  O'Brien, 
William  Obst, 
Eben  Parry, 
Alex.  Pearce, 
Edwin  Rhodes, 
Peter  Richard, 
Pat  Scully, 
Charles  Seyfred, 
Sam  Starke, 
Frank  Smith, 
Albert  Schwanecke, . 
James  Smith, 
John  Smith,  1st, 
John  Smith,  2d, 
John  Smith,  3d, 
Henry  Spicer, 
William  Stewart, 
Frank  Stinemuller, 
Richard  Tea, 
Wheeler  Thatcher, 
Alfred  Thomas, 
Henry  Tripp, 
Morris  Vanderpool, 
Joseph  Varin, 
Fred  Volker, 
George  Washburne, 
Thomas  Wilkins, 
John  Wisker, 
Albert  Wilkins, 
Mike  Williams, 
Peter  Williams, 
Amos  Wood, 
Oscar  Wright, 
Henry  Yost, 
Louis  Zellers. 


*  McKenna  was  an  old  Utah  Regular  who  had  come  back  to  the  Battery  in 
1864. 


316  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

The  above  were  all  Regulars.  There  were  also  the  following  detached 
volunteers : 

-Joe  Bennett,  Charles  Folsora,  George  McKnight, 

Sam  Brazee,  Jacob  Haley,  Billy  Owens, 

James  Baker,  James  Kelley,  Fred  O'Brien, 

Oscar  Cady,  William  Knox,  Henry  Reinhardt, 

Andy  Campbell,  Reddy  Lewis,  Tom  Scott, 

Eph.  C.  Crocker,  Frank  Ludlow,  Henry  Sherman, 

James  Daggett,  James  McCallan,  David  Simpkins, 

Ferd  Detloff,  Frank  McCormick,  Charles  Springstead, 

Robert  Feiner,  William  McFadden,  William  Watson, 

William  Voss. 

This  is  two  officers  and  148  enlisted  men,  of  whom  perhaps  120  to  125 
were  present  for  duty  at  this  time.  As  most  of  them  were  new  recruits, 
Mitchell  was  drilling  the  Battery  every  day,  though  the  heavy  details  for 
fort  duty  somewhat  interfered  with  the  drill  of  the  Battery  as  a  whole.  He 
was,  however,  "licking  this  raw  material  into  pretty  good  shape;"  so 
much  so  that  Gen.  Gibbon  (still  Captain  of  the  Battery  though  command 
ing  the  Twenty-fourth  Corps),  when  he  came  over  to  visit  his  old  Battery 
occasionally  and  used  to  take  them  out  for  battery  drill  in  person,  compli 
mented  Mitchell  and  the  men  on  their  performance.  On  the  east  side  of 
the  Weldon  Road,  just  below  the  Artillery  Brigade  camp,  was  a  large  level 
field,  which  made  a  splendid  drill  ground,  admitting  of  all  sorts  of  ma- 
nuvers  at  any  gait.  Mitchell  was  well  satisfied  with  his  new  men,  and 
told  me  more  than  once  that,  ''when  he  should  get  them  into  action  next 
Spring,  they  would  make  us  old  boys  look  out  for  our  laurels  ! ' ' 

Capt.  Stewart  had  taken  a  leave  in  October,  in  consequence  of  positive 
orders  from  the  Surgeon-General  of  the  Fifth  Corps  that  he  could  not  stand 
another  Winter  in  camp.  He  had  at  this  time  been  with  the  Battery  con 
tinuously  from  the  Spring  of  1851  to  the  FaU  of  1864,  or  13£  years.  He 
had  been  with  it  in  the  Utah  expedition  of  1857-58,  and  had  served  on  the 
frontier  most  of  the  time  on  provisional  cavalry  duty,  escorting  trains,  etc., 
until  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1861.  Coming  East  with  it  he  had  com 
manded  it  in  every  battle  from  Antie tarn  to  Hatcher's  Run  —  except  the 
beginning  of  Antietam,  where  Capt.  Campbell  had  command  until  he  was 
wounded.  Capt.  Stewart  had  been  several  times  severely  injured  either  by 
pieces  of  shell  or  by  horses  falling  on  him  when  shot  under  him ;  in  fact, 
he  had  reached  the  limit  of  human  endurance,  even  for  such  a  cast-steel 
man  as  he  was,  and  hence  the  medical  authorities  ordered  him  out  of  the 
field  for  awhile.  But  he  did  not  relinquish  duty.  He  was  at  once  assigned 
provisionally  to  Battery  A  of  the  4th  Regulars,  which,  having  just  been 
filled  up  with  raw  recruits,  had  been  sent  to  Camp  Barry  for  drill  and  in 
struction,  together  with  about  a  dozen  others  in  the  same  condition.  Col. 
James  A.  Hall,  Captain  of  the  2d  Maine  Battery  at  Gettysburg,  as  pre 
viously  mentioned  in  this  sketch,  was  then  in  command  at  Camp  Barry. 
Col.  Hall  and  Capt.  Stewart  being  warm  friends,  the  Colonel  applied  to 
have  him  assigned  to  the  camp  as  Artillery  Instructor  and  Acting  Provost 
Marshal,  in  which  capacity  he  passed  the  Winter  of  1864-65. 


"DISCIPLINE"  IN  GKIFFIN'S  BATTERY.  317 

The  Artillery  Brigade  had  undergone  considerable  change  since  July. 
Martin's  3d  Massachusetts  had  been  mustered  out.  Paddy  Hart's  loth 
New  York  had  been  transferred  out  of  the  brigade.  Our  Battery  was  com 
manded  by  Lieut.  Mitchell,  Bigelow's  9th  Massachusetts  by  Lieut.  Milton, 
Cooper's  (B)  1st  Pennsylvania  by  Lieut.  William  McClellan.  There  were 
six  batteries  of  the  1st  New  York  in  the  brigade,  as  follows:  Sheldon's  (B), 
under  Lieut.  Bob  Eogers ;  Barnes's  (C),  under  Capt.  Ritchie  ;  Winslow's  or 
Richardson's  (D),  under  Capt.  James  Hazelton  ;  E  (equipped  as  a  mortar 
battery),  under  Capt.  Mathewson ;  Mink's  (H),  with  gallant  old  Charley  him 
self  at  the  fore  —  "a  good  deal  disfigured  "  by  many  wounds  ubut  still  in 
the  ring  j "  Reynolds's  (L),  Capt.  Geo.  Breck,  and  Rittenhouse's  (D),  of  the 
5th  Regulars,  consolidated  with  Battery  G,  of  the  5th,  and  commanded  by 
Lieut.  Rawles  —  a  most  excellent  and  popular  officer.  D  and  G  as  consoli 
dated  had  about  180  or  190  men,  including  13  Sergeants.  Tom  Broderick, 
of  Battery  D,  was  continued  Orderly  Sergeant  of  the  consolidated  command, 
and  generally  the  non-commissioned  officers  of  Battery  G  were  subordi 
nated  to  those  of  Battery  D  hi  the  same  grade.  This  caused  a  good  deal  of 
friction,  and  one  day  brought  on  a  case  of  "discipline  "  not  laid  down  in 
the  regulations.  One  of  the  Sergeants  of  Battery  G  was  a  powerful  fellow 
named  Reed.  The  Orderly  Sergeant  of  Battery  G  was  Kent,  a  nice  fellow, 
a  veteran  Regular,  who  had  accepted  the  situation  gracefully  from  the  start. 
But  Reed  had  been  rude  and  insubordinate,  and  had  several  times  treated 
Tom  with  studied  insolence.  Broderick  was  a  strapping  young  fellow, 
about  23  or  24  years  of  age,  hard  as  iron,  six  feet  high  and  powerful, 
though  of  somewhat  slim  build.  But  he  had  broad  shoulders,  and  was  big- 
boned,  and  about  as  fine  a  specimen  of  young  manhood  as  you  could  see  in 
a  day's  march.  Reed  was  an  Englishman,  not  so  tall  as  Broderick,  but 
much  more  stockily  built ;  no  doubt  considerably  heavier  than  Broderick 
and  a  man  about  30  years  of  age.  He  (Reed)  had  the  reputation  of  being 
one  of  the  best  men  in  the  command  in  which  Battery  G  had  previously 
served.  Broderick  felt  the  difficulty  of  his  position  keenly,  as  he  had  to 
maintain  his  authority,  and  at  the  same  time  he  did  not  want  to  assert 
himself  over  Reed  under  the  circumstances.  Finally,  one  day  Reed  de 
veloped  a  case  of  rank  insubordination  in  the  presence  of  the  men  of  the 
Battery  of  such  a  character  that  Broderick  had  to  act  at  once.  He  might 
have  reported  Reed  and  had  him  reduced  to  the  ranks.  But,  instead  of 
doing  that,  he  said  :  "Reed,  the  best  man  of  us  two  must  be  Orderly  Ser 
geant  of  this  Battery  !  Peel  your  jacket,  if  you  are  the  man  you  pretend 
to  be!" 

They  peeled  their  jackets,  and,  both  being  powerful  men,  a  terrific 
fight  ensued,  of  which  Broderick  rapidly  got  the  best,  though  by  no  means 
having  a  walkover,  as  Reed  himself  was  ' '  no  slouch, ' '  when  Capt.  Rawles 
rushed  in  and  demanded  explanations.  After  hearing  the  statements  of 
the  men  who  had  witnessed  the  affair,  Rawles  directed  Broderick  to  prefer 
charges  against  Reed,  saying  that  he  had  always  been  a  bully,  and  he  was 
glad  to  see  the  conceit  taken  out  of  him.  Broderick  asked  Rawles  as  a. 


318  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

personal  favor  to  withdraw  that  order,  saying  that  he  would  be  responsible 
for  Reed's  future  conduct,  etc.  Rawles  insisted,  and  finally  directed  Brod- 
erick  to  make  out  an  order  for  him  to  sign  reducing  Reed  to  the  ranks  that 
night  at  roll  call.  Then  Broderick  said  he  had  always  obeyed  orders,  but 
he  would  not  obey  this  one.  "You  can  reduce  me  to  the  ranks,  sir,"  he 
said,  "for  insubordination,  if  you  like,  but  I  will  not  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  reduction  of  Reed ;  I  have  whipped  him,  and  I  will  not  persecute 
him  any  further,  sir. ' ' 

This  seemed  to  affect  Rawles,  and  finally  he  told  Broderick  that  he 
might  have  his  own  way,  but  that  he  should  hold  him  responsible  for  Reed's 
future  behavior.  There  was  no  further  trouble,  and  Broderick  getting  an 
order  soon  after  to  detail  a  Sergeant  for  ordnance  duty  he  gave  the  billet 
to  Reed,  and  I  believe  they  were  always  afterward  friends. 

About  this  time  there  was  an  affair  that  I  would  like  to  pass  over  in 
silence,  but  the  history  of  the  Battery  would  not  be  candid  without  it.  It 
relates  to  one  whose  name  I  will  not  mention,  but  all  the  surviving  mem 
bers  of  the  Battery  will  know  who  it  was.  He  was  mail  carrier  for  the 
Battery,  and  was  caught  purloining  letters.  It  was  proved  that  he  rifled 
letters  belonging  to  several  of  the  men,  among  them  John  Alexander,  Jim 
Cunningham,  Anthony  Erringer,  Ben  De  Lannoy,  and  doubtless  others. 
He  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  the  Tortugas,  or  some  other  military 
prison,  for  a  long  term,  but  was  afterward  pardoned.  This  nearly  broke 
Mitchell's  heart.  He  had  been  so  proud  of  our  clean  record ;  had  bragged 
about  it  so  much  to  other  officers !  He  would  sit  and  swear  about  ' '  that 
white-livered  whelp  that  had  disgraced  the  best  Battery  in  the  world  " 
until  he  got  black  in  the  face  with  rage  and  grief ! 

I  did  not  go  on  duty  with  the  Battery  after  my  return,  except  to  do 
some  writing  for  Mitchell,  and  Orderly  duty  when  he  went  anywhere 
mounted.  He  said  he  would  have  given  me  a  gun  if  I  had  been  present 
during  the  reorganization,  but  couldn't  do  anything  for  me  as  it  was. 
However,  in  a  few  days  he  prevailed  on  Gen.  Griffin  to  give  me  mounted 
duty  at  division  headquarters ;  so  the  little  mouse-colored  mare  was  as 
signed  to  me,  and  I  reported  to  the  headquarters  of  the  First  Division. 
The  enlisted  Clerks  and  Orderlies  at  these  headquarters  were  a  nice  lot 
of  boys,  but  I  can't  recall  many  of  them  by  name.  Griffin's  Clerk  was 
Benson,  of  the  20t!h  Maine.  Then  there  wTere  Hyatt,  from  Griffin's  Battery, 
Hall,  Russell,  Davis  and  others  from  different  infantry  regiments  in  the 
division,  Orderlies  or  Clerks,  and  a  squad  of  the  4th  Pennsylvania  cavalry 
as  escort.  A  few  weeks  after  this  the  Fifth  Corps  was  drawn  out  of  the 
intreiichments  and  moved  round  by  the  roads  in  the  rear  of  our  line  till 
we  struck  the  Weldon  Railroad  near  the  Nottoway  Bridge,  and  thence  fol 
lowed  its  line  till  we  came  to  the  Meherrin  at  Hicksford.  It  appeared  that 
the  main  object  of  this  raid  was  to  destroy  the  Weldon  Railroad  a  long  dis 
tance  from  Petersburg.  It  had  already,  of  course,  been  /  cut  at  Ream's 
Station,  and  destroyed  from  there  to  the  crossing  of  the  Rowanty  in  the 
preceding  October  by  the  operations  involving  the  battles  of  Hatcher's 


THE  HICKSFORD  EXPEDITION.  319 

Run  and  Eeam's  Station  ;  but  the  Rebels  had  held  it  open  to  Stony  Creek, 
and  from  that  point  they  used  to  carry  supplies  by  wagon  trains  around 
our  left  flank,  and  so  into  Petersburg  by  way  of  Din  widdie  Courthouse.  And 
now,  as  the  Sixth  Corps  had  returned  from  the  Valley  and  could  relieve 
the  Fifth  in  the  trenches,  it  was  decided  to  make  this  raid.  This  expedi 
tion  consisted  of  the  whole  Fifth  Corps,  some  of  the  Second,  and  Gregg's 
Cavalry  Division — Gen.  Warren  in  command  of  the  column.  The  cavalry 
and  infantry  had  some  skirmishes  on  this  expedition,  but  none  of  the  ar 
tillery  was  called  into  play.  Our  Battery  reported  directly  to  Gen.  Warren 
during  this  movement,  the  other  batteries  of  the  corps  being  assigned  to 
the  various  divisions.  The  country  we  passed  through  had  been  pretty 
much  cleaned  out,  partly  by  the  previous  raids  of  our  cavalry,  but  mainly 
by  the  Rebels  themselves,  who  had  stripped  it  of  every  vestige  of  livestock 
and  provisions,  so  that  most  of  the  people  had  deserted  their  homes  and 
gone  farther  back  into  the  Confederacy  from  the  scene  of  active  operations. 
The  roads  had  been  obstructed  a  good  deal  by  felling  trees  across  them, 
destroying  bridges,  etc. ,  which  had  been  done  by  the  Rebels,  evidently  in 
anticipation  of  such  a  movement  as  this.  However,  we  made  the  best  of 
our  way  to  Hicksford,  where  we  found  some  force  of  the  enemy,  but  did 
not  attack  them  or  even  try  to  cross  the  Meherrin  River,  as  Gen.  Warren's 
instructions  were  only  to  wreck  the  Weldon  Railroad  to  that  point.  Ex 
cept  trifling  skirmishes  with  small  parties  of  their  cavalry,  who  hung  on 
our  flank  during  t  the  return  march,  there  was  no  fighting,  and  we  did  not 
encounter  the  enemy  in  force.  But  the  march  itself  was  terrible,  the 
weather  alternating  between  cold  rain,  sleet  and  snow  the  whole  time, 
thawing  by  day  and  freezing  hard  by  night,  so  that,  as  Comrade  Ferd  Det- 
loff  says  in  a  recent  letter  to  me,  ' '  when  the  troops  who  had  gone  to  bed 
in  the  mud  the  night  before  were  turned  out  in  the  morning,  the  prints  of 
their  bodies  could  be  seen  in  the  earth  as  it  froze  around  them  during  the 
night. 

At  this  time  (December,  1864,)  the  First  Division  of  the  Fifth  Corps 
consisted  of  three  brigades,  as  follows:  First  Brigade  (Brig. -Gen.  Cham 
berlain),  185th  New  York  and  198th  Pennsylvania,  two  large  regiments 
newly  organized  from  re-enlisted  veterans,  recruits  and  probably  a  few 
conscripts.  Second  Brigade  (Brig. -Gen.  E.  M.  Gregory),  187th,  188th  and 
189th  New  York,  which  were  also  new  regiments  of  substantially  the  same 
description  as  the  above.  Third  Brigade  (Brig. -Gen.  Joe  Bartlett),  1st  and 
16th  Michigan,  20th  Maine,  32d  Massachusetts  and  83d,  91st,  118th  and 
155th  Pennsylvania,  all  of  which  were  old  regiments  and  much  reduced  in 
numbers,  except  the  155th  Pennsylvania.  The  division  was,  perhaps, 
4,500  to  4,800  strong,  of  which  Bartlett's  Brigade  numbered  about  2,000, 
and  the  others  about  1,300  or  1,400  each. 

The  season  for  active  operations  had  about  closed,  and  except  the 
Hicksford  raid  in  December  and  the  operations  about  Burgess's  Mill,  on 
Hatcher's  Run,  in  February,  the  camp  was  not  disturbed  from  the  first  of 
December  till  the  last  of  March.  As  the  forts  had  nearly  all  been  com- 


320  THE   CANNONEER. 

pleted,  and  the  lines  on  this  front  were  not  very  close  to  each  other,  duty 
was  not  excessively  severe  during  the  Winter.  Gen.  Crawford  would 
make  a  "demonstration  "  on  his  front  once  in  a  while,  which  would  cause 
the  contiguous  troops  to  be  turned  out,  but  these  affairs  never  amounted 
to  anything  except  to  make  the  men  swear  and  the  officers  to  utter  sar 
castic  remarks  about  Crawford  and  his  "demonstrations." 

I  have  always  thought  that  Gen.  Charles  Griffin  does  not  receive  the 
place  in  history  to  which  his  services  and  personal  character  entitle  him. 
Doubtless  his  untimely  death,  in  1867,  at  the  age  of  40  or  41  years,  caused 
him  to  pass  out  of  the  minds  of  men  in  view  of  the  rapid  procession  of 
great  events  and  great  men,  but  he  certainly  won  -more  distinction  than 
has  ever  been  accorded  to  his  name.  He  served  through  the  whole  war, 
rising  from  the  rank  of  Lieutenant,  commanding  Battery  D,  5th  Regu 
lars,  in  the  battle  of  First  Bull  Run,  to  Major-General,  commanding  the 
Fifth  Corps  at  Appomattox  Courthouse.  As  a  man  he  was  of  gentle  and 
generous  disposition,  with  a  keen  sense  of  humor  and  a  disposition  to  make 
every  one  about  him  enjoy  themselves.  The  hospitality  of  his  mess  was 
proverbial  in  the  army,  and  the  charm  of  his  conversation  was  something 
to  be  remembered.  In  all  the  little  affairs  about  headquarters,  in  which 
the  man  shows  out  through  the  officer,  Griffin  was  so  kind  and  good  and 
considerate  that  it  was  a  joy  to  serve  him,  even  in  the  humblest  capacity. 
He  was  a  horse  fancier,  and  his  stable  was  among  the  finest  in  the  army. 
On  one  occasion  one  of  Crawford's  Orderlies,  a  cavalryman,,  brought  him  a 
message  requiring  a  reply.  Griffin  might  just  as  well  have  sent  the  reply 
by  Crawford's  Orderly,  but  he  dismissed  him  and  ordered  one  of  us  to  sad 
dle  up.  This  cavalyman  was  not  in  good  form,  and  his  horse  looked  more 
shabby  than  he  did,  if  possible.  Gen.  Griffin  remarked  in  his  dry  way 
that  he  would  not  send  a  message  by  such  a  scarecrow  mounted  on  such  a 


As  an  officer,  Gen.  Griffin  was  always  cool,  quiet  and  precise.  He 
never  affected  the  heroic,  and  in  action  always  stationed  himself  at  the 
most  advantageous  point  whence  to  observe  the  operations  of  his  troops  ; 
he  always  knew  exactly  where  every  one  of  his  brigades,  or  even  regiments, 
was ;  his  division  was  always  well  in  hand.  Yon  would  never  see  him 
' '  sword  in  hand,  leading  a  forlorn  hope, ' '  as  the  historians  like  to  depict 
their  heroes ;  and  he  did  not  expose  himself  in  battle  unless  it  was  abso 
lutely  necessary  for  him  to  do  so  in  the  proper  discharge  of  his  duties  as 
division  commander.  He  regarded  warfare  as  his  profession,  and  battle 
as  a  business  transaction  in  pursuance  thereof.  But  while  very  cool,  un 
demonstrative  and  methodical  himself,  he  was  quick  to  see,  admire  and 
reward  gallant  or  even  reckless  exposure  on  the  part  of  his  subordinates. 

They  used  to  tell  about  headquarters  an  anecdote  of  Gen.  Gregory, 
who  had  been  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  who  used  generally  to  be  called, 
in  the  slang  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  " The  Fighting  Parson."  At  the  Weldon 
Railroad,  or  in  some  of  those  battles  near  Globe  Tavern  or  Ream's  Station, 
Gregory  had  behaved  with  unusual  bravery,  involving  most  reckless  expo- 


GRIFFIN  AND  His  BRIGADIERS.  321 

sure.  I  think  lie  lost  two  horses.  Griffin,  though  not  by  any  means  a 
" '  Christian  soldier ' '  himself,  was  fond  of  Gregory,  and  had  great  faith  in 
him  as  a  brigade  leader.  So  when  Griffin  heard  of  this  affair  he  said  that 
Gregory  had  a  great  advantage  over  most  of  the  other  officers  in  that  the 
others  had  to  fear  both  the  Rebels  and  hell,  whereas  Gregory  was  in  danger 
only  from  the  Rebels  ! 

Gen.  Griffin's  great  reliance  was  on  Bartlett,  whose  brigade  he  always 
called  the  right  arm  of  the  division.  Besides,  their  personal  relations  were 
very  close,  and  Griffin  always  consulted  Bartlett  in  even  individual  mat 
ters  outside  of  their  field  duties.  With  the  exception  of  Ayres,  early  in 
1864,  the  brigade  commanders,  during  the  time  when  I  knew  the  division, 
were  all  civilian  soldiers ;  and  Griffin,  though  an  ardent  West  Pointer 
himself,  never  made  any  effort  to  have  West  Pointers  put  in  command  of 
his  brigades,  but  was  perfectly  content  with  Bartlett,  Gwyn,  Sweitzer, 
Gregory  and  Chamberlain. 

But  there  was  one  situation  in  which  Gen.  Griffin  would  show  enthu 
siasm.  That  was  when  he  could  get  a  chance  to  handle  two  or  three  bat 
teries  in  a  field  where  that  arm  could  do  execution.  Then  all  his  old  artil 
lery  instincts  came  to  the  front.  He  used  to  say  that,  so  far  as  the  satis 
faction  of  the  service  was  concerned,  he  would  rather  handle  a  brigade  of 
six  batteries  in  action  than  any  other  possible  command.  Gen.  Griffin 
used  to  be  profuse  in  his  praise  of  the  volunteer  artillery  and  the  old 
Regular  rankers.  He  often  said  that  West  Point  had  never  educated  a 
more  accomplished  artillerist  than  James  Stewart,  who  came  from  the  ranks 
of  the  Regular  Army  ;  or  than  Charley  Phillips,  of  the  5th  Massachusetts ; 
Charley  Mink,  of  H,  1st  New  York ;  or  George  Winslow  or  Lester  Rich 
ardson,  of  D,  1st  New  York,  and  others  who  came  from  civil  life  whose 
names  do  not  now  occur  to  me. 

In  his  intercourse  with  other  officers,  Gen.  Griffin  was  quiet  and  cour 
teous,  though  not  excessively  punctilious,  his  ruling  impulse  being  to 
display  good  nature  and  make  every  one  feel  at  his  ease  in  his  presence. 
He  would  swear  sometimes,  but  as  a  rule  he  was  not  what  wrould  be  called 
a  man  addicted  to  profanity.  Socially  he  was  very  hospitable,  but  drank 
very  moderately  himself,  even  in  the  festivities  of  Winter  quarters,  which 
sometimes  ran  pretty  high.  Intellectually  he  was  not  what  you  would 
call  a  brilliant  man,  but  his  views  were  always  safe,  his  judgment  always 
sound,  and  his  perception  always  acute  and  accurate.  Whether  as  a  Lieu 
tenant  commanding  Battery  D  at  the  First  Bull  Run,  or  as  Major-General 
commanding  the  Fifth  Corps  in  the  Appomattox  campaign,  he  was  always 
the  same  cool,  careful,  discreet  and  successful  officer.  He  grew  right  up 
with  his  increased  responsibilities,  and  he  would  have  displayed  the  same 
solid,  sterling  traits  had  fortune  called  him  to  the  command  of  the  army. 
I  think  that  his  name  will  yet  find  its  proper  place  in  our  military  history. 

The  brigade  commanders  of  Griffin's  Division  at  this  time  were  Joseph 
J.  Bartlett,  of  New  York  ;  Edgar  M.  Gregory,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Cham 
berlain,  of  Maine.  Bartlett  was  the  senior  Brigadier-General,  though  his 


322  THE  CANNONEER. 

brigade  was  numbered  the  Third  Brigade  of  the  division.  Chamberlain 
was  a  professor  in  Bowdoin  College,  who  had  come  out  as  Colonel  of  the 
20th  Maine,  and  had  been  promoted  for  gallantry  at  Gettysburg  and  else 
where.  Gregory  had  been  a  Philadelphia  preacher,  and  had  made  his 
debut  in  the  army  as  Colonel  of  the  91st  Pennsylvania,  a  most  gallant  regi 
ment,  and  one  that  made  a  record  second  to  no  other.  These  three  men 
were  a  curious  study  to  me  from  day  to  day  in  the  discharge  of  my  mes 
senger  or  Orderly  duties.  Bartlett  was  the  beau  ideal  of  a  soldier.  On 
horseback,  in  full  uniform,  he  was  the  most  perfect  picture  of  the  ideal 
officer  that  I  ever  saw.  Dealing  with  officers  he  was  sometimes  pretty  tart, 
and  occasionally  a  bit  emphatic,  but  always  kind,  gentle  and  comrade-like 
toward  the  enlisted  men.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  a  mounted  Orderly  to  be 
sent  with  a  message  to  Gen.  Bartlett.  He  would  look  at  his  watch,  ask 
what  time  we  left  the  division  or  corps  commander  with  the  message,  and 
then  say  :  Report  that  you  delivered  this  to  me  at  such  and  such  an  hour 
and  minute,  whatever  it  might  be,  which  we  would  always  note  carefully 
in  our  little  Orderly  books.  Chamberlain  was  a  cold,  unlovable  man,  very 
brave  and  all  that,  but  not  dashing  either  in  appearance  or  manner.  He 
always  reminded  me  of  a  professor  of  mathematics  we  had  in  college. 
Still,  he  was  a  gallant  officer,  and  had  more  than  once  been  desperately 
wounded  while  leading  his  troops  in  the  most  deadly  assaults. 

Gregory  was  a  solemn,  serious  man,  but  he  always  spoke  to  us  in  kind, 
gentle  tones,  and  we  all  liked  him.  He  was  a  fighter  in  battle,  but  in 
camp  he  used  to  have  prayer  meetings  and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  and  I  am 
afraid  that  the  wicked  boys  about  division  headquarters  used  to  make  ri 
bald,  and  sometimes  blasphemous,  comments  on  ' '  Parson  Gregory, ' '  whom, 
despite  his  kindness  to  us,  we  used  to  call  with  great  irreverence  the  "Bible- 
banging  Brigadier ! ' ' 

I  must  say  that  among  the  unregenerate  boys  about  Griffin's  head 
quarters,  the  dashing,  handsome  and  wicked  Bartlett  was  much  more  ar 
dently  admired  than  the  scholarly  Chamberlain  or  the  pious  Gregory  !  And 
I  also  fear  that  candor  compels  me  to  add  that  there  was  not  much  religion 
in  the  moral  atmosphere  of  Griffin's  headquarters  in  front  of  Petersburg. 

When  Griffin  went  away  on  leave  about  Christmas,  1864,  Bartlett  took 
command  of  the  division.  At  this  time  Gregory  had  a  number  of  recruits 
in  his  brigade  who  had  enlisted  (for  large  bounties)  out  of  some  theological 
seminary  in  Western  New  York.  I  think  they  were  in  the  189th  New  York, 
a  new  regiment.  They  had  a  large  hospital  tent  fitted  up  as  a  meeting 
house,  and  used  to  hold  prayer  meetings  there.  Bartlett  thought  they  ought 
to  have  more  brigade  drill,  even  at  the  expense  of  less  psalm  singing.  So 
he  took  Gregory  to  task  about  it  one  day.  Not  long  after  Gregory  wanted 
Bartlett  to  approve  details  of  a  lot  of  men  from  his  brigade  as  division  train 
teamsters.  Upon  investigation  Bartlett  discovered  that  these  men  were  the 
theological  student  recruits  before  mentioned,  whereupon  he  refused  to  ap 
prove  their  details,  saying  that  as  these  men  were  all  ready  for  Heaven  they 
should  be  put  to  the  front ;  and  if  any  men  were  to  be  detailed  as  teamsters 


BACK  TO  THE  AMMUNITION  WHARF.  323 

they  should  be  the  tough,  wicked  old  fighting  veterans  who  were  sure  to  go 
to  hell  if  they  got  killed  !  I  do  not  know  how  Gen.  Gregory  took  this  re 
buff,  but  so  long  as  Bartlett  commanded  the  division  all  the  details  for  duty 
in  the  rear  were  made  from  among  the  "wicked  old  veterans,"  and  the 
pious  recruits  had  to  remain  at  the  front. 

Notwithstanding  his  apparently  calm  nature,  Griffin's  likes  and  dis 
likes  were  very  strong.  It  is  not  necessary  to  state  whom  he  disliked.  But 
the  men  he  liked  were  Hancock,  Gibbon,  Ay  res,  Bartlett  and  particularly 
his  wife's  brother,  Gen.  Sprigg  Carroll,  of  the  Second  Corps.  He  was  fond 
of  Getty,  Wheaton  and  Davy  Russell,  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  and  also  of  Gen. 
Orlando  Willcox,  of  the  Ninth  Corps.  He  had  also  a  profound  admiration 
for  Gen.  Henry  Heth,  of  Lee's  army,  who  had  been  his  "chum"  at  West 
Point,  and  he  used  to  say  that  it  gave  him  more  satisfaction  to  drive 
Heth's  Division  than  any  other  command  in  the  Confederate  army.  I 
am  sorry  to  say  that  he  did  not  always  have  the  satisfaction  of  "driving 
Heth." 

After  a  few  weeks  of  this  pleasant  duty  at  division  headquarters  an 
opportunity  occurred  of  a  detail  at  the  ammunition  wharf,  which  I  was 
lucky  enough  to  get,  and  so  was  reinstated  in  the  same  "soft  berth  "  that 
Capt.  McKnight  had  so  cruelly  yanked  me  out  of  the  previous  July. 
Gen.  Grant  used  to  stroll  down  to  this  ammuition  wharf  frequently, 
especially  just  before  dark.  He  would  walk  along  with  his  hands  behind 
his  back  and  his  eyes  bent  on  the  ground,  apparently  taking  no  notice  of 
any  of  us,  though  he  was  always  very  precise  in  returning  our  salutes. 
The  General  gave  a  good  deal  of  his  personal  attention  to  matters  at  this 
wharf.  Sometime  previous  to  this  —  in  August,  1864 — the  Rebels  had 
floated  some  barrel  torpedoes  down  the  river,  with  clock-work  fuses,  and 
one  of  them  had  exploded  under  one  of  the  barges,  blowing  them  all  up  — 
a  good  many  tons  of  powder,  loaded  shells,  case  shot,  etc.  After  that  our 
folks  had  made  a  net  above  the  barges,  extending  out  into  the  stream  far 
enough  to  keep  the  torpedoes  out  of  the  eddy  which  swung  in  there  when 
the  tide  was  flooding.  This  explosion  had  wrecked  Gen.  Grant's  head 
quarters.  One  night  when  he  came  down  there  I  happened  to  be  out  on  the 
end  of  the  wharf  fishing.  I  was  sitting  on  one  of  the  sills,  and  the  first  I 
knew  the  General  was  right  behind  me. 

He  said  :  "Do  you  catch  any  fish  here?" 

"Yes,  sir;  sometimes."  In  fact,  at  this  moment,  I  had  quite  a 
"string"  of  "spots,"  "tailors"  and  two  or  three  small  "rock,"  which  I 
proudly  exhibited  to  the  Lieutenant-General  and  Commander-iu-Chief  of 
the  Armies  of  the  United  States  '  We  used  frequently  to  catch  a  nice 
mess  of  fish  at  the  end  of  the  wharf  when  the  tide  was  flooding. 

"  I  think  I  will  come  down  here  and  try  my  luck,  if  I  can  get  time 
some  day.  I  like  to  fish,"  he  said,  surveying  my  "string." 

And  with  that  the  Old  Commander  walked  slowly  away.  But  appa 
rently  he  never  found  time  to  come  and  "try  his  luck"  fishing  with  me 
off  the  end  of  the  ammunition  wharf. 


324  THE   CANNONEER. 

On  another  occasion — which  I  did  not  personally  witness,  but  have 
no  doubt  of  its  truth — he  came  down  to  the  inshore  end  of  the  wharf  with 
a  cigar  in  his  mouth.  The  sentry  said  : 

' '  Gen.  Grant,  it  is  contrary  to  your  orders  to  smoke  on  this  wharf, 
sir." 

"Of  course  it  is,  "  replied  the  General.  "I beg  your  pardon,  Sentry  ; 
I  was  thinking  of  something  else.  I  will  not  repeat  the  offense. " 

So  he  threw  away  his  cigar  and  walked  out  as  usual  to  the  outer  end 
and  looked  at  the  barges.  It  was  said  that  he  gave  the  sentry  a  handful 
of  cigars,  and  told  him  to  smoke  them  when  he  was  off  post. 

The  Commander-in-Chief  seemed  to  take  great  interest  in  those  ammu 
nition  barges.  Probably  he  considered  them  the  "tools  of  his  trade." 

One  morning  in  January  —  the  6th  or  7th,  I  think  —  an  old  transport 
hauled  alongside  the  wharf,  and  gangs  were  at  once  set  to  work  to  load  her 
with  ammunition  for  small-arms,  field  guns  and  siege  pieces.  "We  soon 
learned  that  she  was  to  carry  the  siege  train  and  reserve  ammunition  for  an 
expedition  by  sea,  the  object  of  which  wre  easily  guessed  to  be  a  renewed 
attack  on  Fort  Fisher,  of  which  the  camp  had  been  full  of  rumor  as  soon 
as  Butler's  failure  in  December  became  known.  The  required  amount  of 
ammunition  was  put  on  board  by  4  o'clock  p.  m.,  and  then  the  Acting 
Ordnance  Officer  in  charge  asked  the  chief  of  our  wharf  to  give  him  two 
of  his  Clerks,  but  he  only  got  one.  This  transport  was  an  old  wooden 
screw  steamer  which  had  been  a  Savannah  and  New  York  cotton  boat  be 
fore  the  war.  She  had  on  board  the  guns  of  Gen.  Terry's  siege  train, 
stowed,  dismounted,  in  the  hold,  together  with  the  whole  of  the  reserve 
ammunition  of  the  command,  part  of  which  had  been  loaded  at  Gen.  But 
ler's  wharf  at  Deep  Bottom,  and  the  rest  at  our  wharf  at  City  Point. 

The  Acting  Ordnance  Officer  was  a  volunteer  artillery  Lieutenant.  He 
was  a  very  nice  little  gentleman,  and  «iy  connection  with  him  was  most 
pleasant,  although  during  the  most  of  the  voyage  he  was  so  desperately 
seasick  that  he  did  not  do  much  except  pay  his  respect  to  Neptune.  He 
had  brought  one  Ordnance  Clerk  from  the  Army  of  the  James,  and  as 
there  was  another  to  go  from  our  wharf  Corp'l  Nelson  was  at  first  detailed, 
but  Nelson  was  always  seasick  aboard  ship,  and  so  he  and  I  arranged  an 
exchange,  with  the  consent  of  Lieut.  Alger,  our  Acting  Chief,  and  I  was 
soon  on  board  with  my  little  outfit.  My  comrade  Clerk  from  the  Army  of 
the  James  was  a  Corporal  from  one  of  the  Eegular  batteries  in  that  army 
—  probably  Follett's  or  Myrick's.  His  name  was  Mike  Clancey,  and  dur 
ing  the  25  days  we  spent  together  in  that  wonderful  expedition  we  became 
bosom  friends.  He  was  a  very  bright,  well-educated  young  fellow,  clean 
and  neat  as  could  be  —  the  perfect  pink  of  a  Eegular  soldier.  Besides,  he 
had  been  Ordnance  Clerk  a  long  time,  and  knew  all  about  keeping  ammu 
nition  and  artillery  equipment  accounts.  The  heavy  artillerymen  belong 
ing  to  the  siege  train,  about  200  in  number,  and  made  up  of  detachments 
from  the  16th  New  York  and  3d  Pennsylvania,  were  sent  down  between 
decks,  which,  as  soon  as  we  got  outside  in  the  January  storm  that  ensued., 


WALLOWING  OFF  HATTERAS.  325 

became  a  perfect  hell  hole  !  But  the  Ordnance  Officer  in  charge  informed 
the  Captain  of  the  transport,  Mr.  Hanscomb,  that  his  two  Clerks  would 
have  charge  of  the  ammunition,  and  therefore  must  have  the  freedom  of 
the  decks,  and  must  be  provided  with  hammocks  to  swing  under  the  deck 
house,  so  that  they  could  always  be  within  easy  call  to  him,  as  he  himself 
expected  to  be  confined  to  the  cabin  with  seasickness  as  soon  as  we  got  out 
side.  Getting  under  way,  we  ran  down  to  Hampton  Eoads,  where  we  found 
that  the  bulk  of  the  fleet  had  already  sailed  with  Terry's  troops  on  board, 
and  we  got  orders  to  make  the  best  of  our  way  to  the  mouth  of  the  Cape 
Fear  River.  While  here  a  melancholy  affair  occurred.  One  of  the  heavy 
artillerymen  became  suddenly  crazy  and  jumped  overboard  out  of  one  of 
the  ports  and  started  to  swim  toward  the  shore.  His  name,  they  said,  was 
Anthony  Rose,  or  Ross,  but  I  do  not  remember  which  of  the  detachments 
he  belonged  to.  He  had  stripped  off  everything  but  his  drawers,  and  at 
first  he  swam  powerfully,  but  the  water  was  very  cold,  and  before  they 
could  lower  a  boat  and  get  him  he  was  benumbed,  and  sank  to  rise  no 
more.  His  comrades  said  his  wife  and  baby  had  recently  died  at  his  home, 
and  he  could  not  get  a  furlough  to  go  and  see  them  before  they  died  or 
even  to  bury  them,  and  so  he  had  brooded  over  it  until  he  lost  his  reason. 
They  said  he  had  always  been  a  most  gallant  soldier  and,  until  his  troubles 
overwhelmed  him,  one  of  the  happiest  and  most  cheerful  of  comrades.  His 
sad  end  cast  a  gloom  over  all  the  enlisted  men  on  board  the  ship.  How 
ever,  such  things  do  not  last  long  among  soldiers,  and  the  next  day  we  had 
forgotten  all  about  poor  Rose  and  his  hapless  fate ! 

As  soon  as  the  Captain  got  his  orders  the  old  Greene  steamed  out  of  the 
Capes  and  began  to  wallow  in  the  trough  of  a  "nor'east  sea  in  January" 
down  along  the  Hatteras  coast.  Great  Moses !  what  a  pandemonium  that 
berthdeck  was  with  those  200  seasick  heavy  artillerymen !  I  will  not 
endeavor  to  describe  it.  Some  of  their  officers  who  did  not  succumb  to  the 
mal  de  mer  did  all  they  could  to  comfort  them,  but  to  little  purpose. 
They  were  nearly  all  sick  until  they  landed  on  Federal  Point.  The  usual 
experience  of  soldiers  aboard  a  transport  is  anything  but  cheerful.  Dur 
ing  the  civil  war  ' '  economy  of  transportation ' '  was  the  watchword,  and 
the  result  was  that  in  expeditions  by  sea  the  troops  were  almost  invariably 
jammed  in  the  orlop  or  berthdecks  of  rickety  old  wooden  steamers,  where 
there  was  little  air  and  no  light  or  ventilation,  and  in  these  hell  holes  they 
would  frequently  be  confined  for  a  week  at  a  time  in  the  midst  of  horrors 
that  reminded  one  of  the  ' '  middle  passage  "  in  a  Congo  slaveship.  It  hap 
pened  that  our  transport  was  not  very  much  crowded  in  this  expedition, 
but  the  men  suffered  enough.  Clancey  and  I  had  hammocks  swung  on 
each  side  of  the  gangway  under  the  break  of  the  quarterdeck,  where  we 
certainly  had  plenty  of  "ventilation,"  as  the  place  was  open  at  the  forward 
end  and  the  weather  was  pretty  cold.  However,  we  had  double  blankets, 
and  by  sleeping  in  our  overcoats  managed  to  take  comfort.  We  messed 
with  the  crew  and  had  excellent  fare.  Our  Lieutenant,  the  Acting  Ordnance 
Officer,  was  very  sick,  but  Mike  and  I  took  turns  attending  him,  so  he  got 


326 


THE  CANNONEER 


along  pretty  well.      He  used  to  say  to  us  between  his  retchings,  "  Great 
God  !  what  wouldn't  I  give  to  have  the  stomachs  that  you  boys  have  ! '' 

Betweentimes  we  amused  ourselves  ''spinning  yarns"  with  the  sailors. 
Mike  wasn't  much  on  yarns,  but  I  could  hold  my  own  with  the  oldest  and 
saltiest  Jack  of  them  all  in  battle  stories.  I  used  to  get  the  starboard  watch 
after  grub  or  the  oif-watch  in 
the  dog-watch  change  and 
tell  them  about  "  Bethesda 
Church ' '  ;  then  some  old  pel- 
ter  from  the  whaling  days  of 
New  Bedford  would  interrupt 
me  to  inquire  "Why  the  — 
didn't  we  tow  them  Rebel 
guns  alongside  after  they  had 
gone  into  their  flurry  and 
showed  fin  up  ! "  Or  some 
grizzly  old  man-of-warsman 
would  express  the  profound 
opinion  that  ' '  It  was  a  — 
poor  crew  that  couldn't  take 
possession  of  a  craft  as  had 
struck  her  colors  ! ' ' 

I  could  always  capture  the 
"old  salts"  with  the  story 
of  Cedar^  Creek,  which  was 
vivid  enough  when  truthfully 
told,  but  which  became  aver-  TAXING  " JACKY'S"  CREDULITY. 

itable  legend  of  Gulliver  the  way  I  recited  it  to  the  sailormen  of  the  old 
Greene  with  suitable  embellishments. 

When  I  would  get  to  the  point  where  the  Johnnies  got  on  top  of  us 
some  of  the  old  salts  would  sing  out : 

"Yes ;  that's  regular  man-o'-war  fashion  !  They  boarded  you  in  the 
smoke!" 

Most  of  these  sailors  were  New  Englanders,  and  so  my  description  of 
the  way  the  Vermonters  and  Stevens's  old  5th  Maine  Battery  fought  there 
would  stir  up  their  enthusiasm  to  a  high  pitch. 

"  Betcher  life,"  they  would  say,  "that's  the  good  old  Yankee  style  ! 
Mebbe  them  Rebels  that  used  to  brag  about  one  Southerner  whippin'  five 
Yankees  changed  their  minds  after  they'd  been  afoul  of  the  Varrnounters 
and  Stevens's  Maine  Battery  awhile  !  " 

I  don't  know  what  there  is  about  the  forecastle  of  a  ship  at  sea  that 
promotes  exaggeration,  but  it  is  something.  Under  ordinary  circum 
stances  I  was  a  fairly  truthful  boy.  But  as  I  related  Gettysburg,  Spottsyl- 
vania,  Bethesda  Church  and  Cedar  Creek  to  those  jolly  old  salts  under  the 
topgallant  forecastle  of  the  Greene  I  never  killed  less  than  five  Rebels 
with  my  own  hand  in  any  battle,  and  sometimes  as  many  as  seven !  I 


LANDING  IN  THE  SURF.  327 

would  "mow  them  down"  with  canister  in  long  swaths  like  grass  before 
the  scythe  !  Then  I  would  polish  off  what  might  be  left  with  my  trusty 
revolver  !  And  if  one  happened  to  escape  that  double  destruction  I  would 
brain  him  with  the  handspike  !  I  suppose  that  Jacky  believed  it  all.  If 
he  did  not,  he  was  too  polite  to  make  any  disparaging  remarks !  The 
storm  abated  after  the  second  day  out.  and  the  next  day  but  one  we  sighted 
Porter's  fleet  off  the  "  New  Inlet, "  or  sea  face  of  Fort  Fisher.  But  of  all 
the  vile  places  that  I  ever  tried  to  breathe  in,  the  berthdeck  of  that  old 
transport,  with  battened  hatches,  was  the  vilest !  We  got  up  to  the  anchor 
age  about  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  13th,  our  old  transport  having 
fallen  astern  during  the  storm.  But  we  were  just  in  time  to  see  the  land 
ing  of  Terry's  infantry  on  the  beach  above  the  fort.  The  heavy  artillery 
men  from  our  transport  were  also  landed,  except  an  ammunition  detail, 
together  with  Mike  and  I,  who  were  left  on  board,  the  heavies  landing 
with  their  infantry  equipment  only.  These  heavy  artillerymen,  as  well 
as  I  can  remember,  were  detachments  from  the  1st  Connecticut,  the  13th 
and  16th  New  York  and  the  3d  Pennsylvania.  But  this  landing  on  the 
beach  was  something  miraculous.  It  took  nearly  all  day.  All  the  steam 
lanches  and  small  boats  of  the  men-of-war  and  transports  were  engaged 
in  it.  I  have  since  heard  an  English  officer  who  was  in  the  Crimea,  and 
took  great  pride  in  the  landing  of  the  Anglo-French  army  at  Eupatoria 
through  the  small  surf  of  the  Black  Sea,  say  that  there  is  nothing  in  the 
history  of  the  debarkation  of  troops  on  a  coast  fit  to  be  mentioned  the 
same  day  in  comparison  with  Terry's  landing  on  that  Federal  Point  beach, 
Jan.  13,  1865.  As  I  still  had  my  fieldglass  picked  up  on  the  field  at 
Spottsylvania,  I  could  see  almost  the  faces  of  the  men  in  the  boats  as  they 
rose  and  fell  with  the  heavy  rollers,  or  pitched  and  tumbled  through  the 
surf  onto  the  sand.  Occasionally  a  boat  would  be  swamped  or  thrown  over 
in  the  surf,  and  then  the  boys  would  scramble  up  the  beach  as  best  they 
could.  I  heard  there  were  several  accidents  of  men  being  struck  by  the 
boats,  etc.,  and  a  few  were  said  to  have  been  drowned — these  last  mostly 
of  Paine's  colored  division  from  the  Twenty-fifth  Corps.  Meantime  Por 
ter's  fleet  kept  up  a  tremendous  fire  on  the  sea  face  of  the  fort,  and  swept 
the  narrow  neck  of  Federal  Point  above  the  fort  with  a  tornado  of  shot, 
shell,  shrapnel  and  heavy  grape  from  their  big  guns,  so  that  I  believe  a 
mouse  could  not  have  crossed  it  alive  while  the  troops  were  landing.  The 
wind  was  from  the  northwest,  and  so,  as  our  old  transport  was  anchored 
north  of  Porter's  fleet,  the  smoke  drifted  rapidly  away  from  us  and  left  a 
perfectly  clear  view  of  the  scene  from  10  o'clock  a.  m.  to  4  or  5  in  the 
afternoon — at  least,  until  near  dark. 

We  remained  at  this  anchorage  that  night  and  the  next  day  and  night, 
but  before  daylight  on  the  15th  got  under  way  and  steamed  round  to  a 
berth  nearer  the  point  where  the  troops  landed,  as  it  was  found  that  we 
were  not  quite  out  of  range  of  the  Armstrong  guns  in  the  fort  in  our  first 
anchorage.  However,  from  the  fact  that  no  effort  was  made  to  land  the 
guns  and  ammunition  of  the  siege  trains,  we  all  concluded  that  they  were 


328 


THE  CANNONEER 


going  to  try  to  take  the  fort  by  assault  and  by  bombardment  from  the  fleet, 
and,  as  from  our  new  anchorage,  with  the  wind  north,  we  could  see  every 
move,  we  prepared  ourselves  for  the  grandest  spectacle  of  our  lives ;  and 
so  it  turned  out  to  be. 

It  may  be  imagined  that  we  were  all  astir  on  board  the  old  transport 
early  in  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  January.  The  warships  of  Porter's 
fleet  were  forming  in  a  great  arc  of  a  circle  round  the  sea  face  of  the  big 
fort.  They  would  steam  up  one  by  one  and  take  their  positions  like  a  line 
of  battle  of  infantry  forming  up.  I  had  never  dreamed  of  anything  so 
grand.  On  the  inner  arc  of  this  semicircle  were  those  iron  bulldogs,  the 
monitors ;  the  old  Monadnock,  with  her  two  turrets,  the  rest  with  one  each. 
The  old  salts  on  board  our  transport  knew  all  these  ships  by  their  "num 
bers,  ' '  as  they  were  signaled  from  time  to  time.  I  took  my  station  close 
to  the  old  Signal  Quartermaster  of  the  Greene,  and  after  I  had  overcome 
his  gruftness  by  various  "kind  offices"  from  my  well-stored  knapsack,  and 
told  him  I  was  descended  from  a  race  of  Nantucket  whalemen,  he  was  a 
mine  of  "naval  intelligence"  to  me.  His  name  was  Sigsbee,  and  as  he 
was  Signal  Quartermaster  we  called  him  "Old  Sig,"  for  short.  "Notice 
them  cheeseboxes  there,  hauling  in  shore,"  he  said,  shifting  his  quid  from 
one  cheek  to  the  other.  "Them  cheeseboxes  is  goin'  right  up  with  their 

forefoots  in  the  sand ;  that's 

)  / ^/  /  /  ^ie  Wa5r  they  does.  They  gets 
up  as  close  as  the  ground  '11  let 
'em.  See  !  Thar's  the  leader 
now — that's  the  old  Canoni- 
cus — I  knows  some  of  the 
boys  in  her — see  !  she  backs  ! 
She's  rubbed  her  nose  on  the 
beach — thar  goes  her  anchor 
— see  her  veer  away  —  that's 
to  spile  their  range. ' ' 

Just  then,  puff!  puff!  and 
boom  !  boom  !  went  the  two 
great  15-inch  guns  of  the  Ca- 
nonicus.     Almost  before  one 
could  count  10   away  went 
the  turret  guns  of  the  Maho- 
pac,  Saugus  and  Monadnock. 
What  a  sight  it  was !    I 
had  seen   something  in  the 
"OLD  SIG  GOT  His  MAN-O'-WAR  BLOOD  UP."  wav  of  artiiiery  practice,  but 

nothing  like  this.  I  knew  that  every  gun  in  those  monitors  could  take  one 
of  our  old  Battery's  light  twelves,  load  and  all,  right  into  its  muzzle,  and 
fire  it  out  again.  And  how  they  roared  !  It  was  not  a  fierce,  quick  bark 
like  our  old  brass  twelves,  but  a  hoarse,  prolonged,  sullen  roar,  like  blood 
hounds  on  a  fresh  track  !  And  then  the  wooden  ships  in  the  outside  circle 


WATCHING  THE  MONITORS.  329 

began  to  open.  By  this  time  the  storm  had  subsided  entirely,  and  the  wind 
had  been  "blowing  off  shore"  for  36  hours  and  had  smoothed  the  water 
down  so  there  was  nothing  left  but  the  "long  swell." 

The  day  was  bright  and  clear,  but  cold  and  crisp,  which  made  the  smoke 
light,  and  the  wind  from  the  northwest  lifted  it  quickly  seaward,  so  that  the 
flash  of  every  gun  could  be  seen.  I  wouldn't  have  missed  seeing  that  bom 
bardment  of  Fort  Fisher  for  10  years  of  my  life.  It  beat  anything  in  history 
for  weight  of  ordnance  used  —  even  greater  than  the  bombardment  of  the 
Sebastopol  forts  by  the  English  and  French  fleets,  because  the  guns  we 
used  were  so  much  heavier.  I  cannot  describe  the  discharges  of  those  13  and 
15-inch  Rodman  guns  of  the  monitors,  or  the  explosion  of  their  great  shells 
in  the  air  over  the  fort  or  among  its  traverses.  To  me  it  seemed  like  firing 
meteors  out  of  volcanoes.  I  had  hitherto  thought  that  the  long  percussion 
shell  bolt  of  a  four-and-a-half-inch  Rodman  siege  gun,  which  I  had  ' '  gunned ' ' 
a  couple  of  times  in  cannonades  in  the  redan  in  the  early  part  of  the  great 
siege  was  a  big  thing,  but  now  I  hauled  down  my  colors.  I  would  watch 
the  turrets  of  the  monitors  through  my  glass.  They  would  turn  their  iron 
backs  on  the  enemy  to  load,  and  I  could  distinctly  see  the  big  rammer  staves 
come  out  of  the  ports.  Then  they  would  wheel  round  on  a  line  with  the 
fort,  there  would  be  two  puffs  of  blue  smoke  about  the  size  of  a  thunder 
cloud  in  June,  and  then  I  could  see  the  big  shell  make  a  black  streak  through 
the  air  with  a  tail  of  white  smoke  behind  it  —  and  then  would  come  over 
the  water,  not  the  quick  bark  of  a  field  gun,  but  a  slow,  quivering,  over 
powering  roar  like  an  earthquake,  and  then,  away  among  the  Rebel  traverses, 
there  would  be  another  huge  ball  of  mingled  smoke  and  flame  as  big  as  a 
meeting  house. 

As  the  bombardment  went  on  "Old  Sig"  began  to  get  his  man-of-war 
blood  up.  I  never  saw  a  more  perfect  illustration  of  the  devotion  of  an  old 
American  sailor  to  a  commander  whom  he  liked.  As  the  Canonicus  ap 
peared  to  be  in  the  vortex  of  the  fight  more  and  more,  from  her  position  in 
the  center  of  the  ironclad  line,  and  being  temporarily  aground,  "Old  Sig's  " 
excitement  and  wrath  rose  to  a  high  pitch. 

I  should  explain  here  that  whenever  a  merchant  vessel  was  chartered 
with  her  own  crew  as  a  transport  during  the  war  it  was  the  custom  to  de 
tail  one  or  two  of  the  old  men-of-warsmen  as  "Signal  Quartermasters"  on 
board  of  her.  This  was  because  the  transports  had  to  be  manuvered  by  sig 
nals,  the  same  as  a  man-of-war  when  in  squadron,  and  merchant  sailors  or 
mates  could  not  read  the  navy  signals,  as  a  rule  ;  besides,  I  suppose,  they 
would  not  give  out  the  signal  books  except  to  regularly-enlisted  navymen. 
These  Signal  Quartermasters  when  on  board  a  transport  would  be  rated  as 
' '  Acting  Sailing  Masters, ' '  which  was  a  sort  of  promotion.  Old  Sigsbee  was 
the  only  one  alx>ard  the  Greene  on  this  occasion. 

So,  as  the  fight  waxed  hot  and  the  Canonicus  seemed  to  be  getting  the 
brunt  of  it  about  noon  on  the  15th  of  January,  old  Sigsbee  became  a  study 
for  an  artist.  He  would  go  to  the  end  of  the  bridge  and  level  his  long 
pliotglass  at  the  Canonicus.  Then  he  would  see  the  fire  flv  from  her  iron 


330  THE  CANNONEER. 

sides  as  the  big  Armstrong  and  Brooke  rifle-bolts  struck  her.  And  then  he 
would  put  his  glass  under  his  arm,  bite  off  about  an  ounce  of  tobacco, 
which  he  would  chaw  as  if  he  was  eating  his  dinner,  and  would  stride 
up  and  down  the  bridge  of  the  ship  like  a  caged  lion,  uttering  the  most 
frightful  oaths  I  ever  heard;  damning  his  bloody  eyes  for  ever  "having 

taken  an  old  woman's  berth  in sodger-ship  out  of  the  line  of 

battle,  and  ever  and  anon  expressing  his  firm  belief  that  ''Little  George  " 

(meaning  Commander  Belknap),  the  "fightin'  little ,  was 

a-missin'  Old  Nat,  and  wantin'  him  to  be  there  right  now  ! ' '  (His  first 
name  was  Nat  or  Nathan.)  "See  that  little  round  iron  thimble  on  top  of 
the  cheesebox,"  he  would  say — meaning  the  fighting  pilothouse  of  the 
monitor —  "there's  where  Little  George  is,  and  if  I  was  aboard  with  him 
I'd  be  there  by  his  side  at  the  wTheel !  I  know  he'd  have  me  at  the  fightin' 
wheel !  I  kin  see  him  now  peekin'  out  of  the  slots  in  the  pilothouse,  and 

he's  probably  got  some of  a  Quartermaster  there  by  him  that  he 

don't  like  half,  so  well  as  Old  Nat,  'cause  I've  knowed  him  sence  he  was 
knee  high,  and  me  and  him  is  both  New  Hampshire  sailors  from  the  same 
town,  and  you  bet  they've  all  got  a  coat  of  salt  on  their  skins  an  inch 
thick!" 

The  old  man  was  a  comical  picture  all  this  time.  He  was  tall  and 
spare,  with  a  rugged,  stormbeaten  face,  high  cheek  bones  and  a  luxuriant 
growth  of  iron-gray  whiskers  that  covered  his  throat,  and  spread  out  like 
a  fan  over  the  bosom  of  his  heavy  peajacket.  His  voice  was  hoarse  and 
rough,  as  if  it  had  been  trained  to  rise  above  the  roar  of  the  waves  and 
storms  of  the  ocean,  and  his  whole  air,  gait  and  manner  bespoke  the  thor 
ough  "old  salt."  He  had,  in  fact,  been  at  sea,  either  as  a  New  Bedford 
whaleman  or  as  a  man-of-warsman,  for  nearly  40  years  at  this  time ;  still, 
his  heart  was  warm  and  his  courage  fresh,  and  when  he  saw  his  "Little 
George  " — as  he  called  Commander  Belknap,  of  the  Canonicus — in  a  fight, 
his  feelings  entirely  got  the  best  of  him,  and  he  charged  up  and  down  the 
bridge  and  literally  "made  a  holy  show"  of  himself;  but  those  who  saw 
him  could  fully  appreciate  his  sentiments,  and,  in  fact,  shared  them  to  a 
great  extent.  Poor  old  Nat  Sigsbee  !  I  fear  that  his  race  is  dying  out  in 
the  American  Navy  in  these  times. 

Well,  while  this  was  going  on,  the  infantry  was  making  rushes  along 
the  sand  beach  toward  the  fort  in  two  or  three  lines,  running  over  each 
other  and  intrenching  as  they  advanced,  but  I  was  so  much  engrossed  in 
the  15-inch  gun  practice  of  the  monitors  that  I  paid  little  attention  to  any 
thing  else.  Finally,  after  about  three  hours  of  this  sort  of  rapid  approaches, 
the  leading  infantry  nearest  the  river  began  to  reach  round  onto  the  Rebel 
ditches,  and  began  a  regular  escalade  of  the  land  face  of  the  work.  The 
fleet  now  ceased  firing,  except  at  the  Mound  battery,  south  of  the  main 
fort.  The  Rebels  had  powerful  ordnance  in  the  fort,  and  when  the  bom 
bardment  began  they  replied  with  great  spirit.  But  they  soon  lost  heart ; 
in  fact,  many  of  their  guns  were  dismounted  by  the  huge  shells  and  shot  of 
the  monitors,  so  that  by  the  time  the  infantry  got  up  to  the  assault  the  sea 


THE  SIGNAL  FOR  ASSAULT  331 

face  and  all  the  land  face  that  the  monitors  could  get  in  reverse  was  com 
pletely  dismantled  as  far  as  artillery  was  concerned,  and  the  garrison  of  the 
fort  was  crouching  in  the  bombproofs  and  behind  the  traverses.  Imagine 
a  cold,  bright  day  in  the  middle  of  January  ;  a  low,  sandy  coastline,  with 
a  dull  surf  combing  up  on  the  beach  ;  a  tremendous  fort  of  the  most  elabo 
rate  construction,  with  ramparts  in  some  places  30  feet  high  ;  huge  bas 
tions  every  little  way  ;  deep-throated  embrasures  from  which  frowned  the 
muzzles  of  seven,  eight  and  10-inch  Armstrong  and  Brooke  rifled  cannon 
and  Columbiads ;  and  the  doomed  flag  of  the  gallant  Confederacy  floating 
defiantly  from  its  tall  staff ! 

Look,  then,  seaward,  and  see  60  steam  men-of-war  formed  in  a  great 
arc  of  a  circle,  all  steaming  slowly  to  their  anchors  and  rolling  great  vol 
umes  of  smoke  from  their  funnels.  Inside  of  this  outer  arc  five  or  six  of 
those  low,  black,  sullen  monitors  ' '  in  line  abreast, ' '  as  the  sailors  called  it, 
slowly  and  steadily  creeping  toward  the  fort,  no  visible  sign  of  life  about 
them,  except  now  and  then  you  could  see  an  officer's  head -come  up  over 
the  breastwork  or  barbet  on  top  of  the  turret. 

The  sullen  monitors  never  said  a  word  till  their  noses  touched  the 
beach,  which  was  as  close  as  they  could  get  to  their  antagonist,  and  then — 
well,  the  like  of  it  was  never  seen.  From  where  our  transport  was  anchored 
it  looked  as  if  the  Canonicus,  which  was  considerably  nearer  to  the  fort  than 
any  other  ship,  must  be  within  400  yards  of  the  northeast  main  bastion. 
I  kept  my  glass  trained  on  her  all  the  time.  I  could  see  the  fire  fly  from 
her  iron  turret,  deck  and  sides  when  the  big  bolts  from  the  Rebel  guns 
struck  her.  It  did  not  seem  possible  that  anything  made  by  human  hands 
could  stand  it.  At  this  moment  the  three  single-turreted  monitors  —  Can 
onicus,  Saugus  and  Mahopac  —  were  in  a  bunch  together,  the  Canonicus  in 
the  center  and  ahead,  not  1,200  feet  from  the  great  bastion  !  On  one  flank, 
a  little  farther  from  the  fort,  was  the  double-turreted  Monadnock,  and  on  the 
other,  still  farther'out,  was  a  great,  enormous  mass  of  iron,  flame  and  smoke, 
which  the  old  Quartermaster  told  us  was  the  famous  New  Ironsides,  of 
which  we  had  read  so  much  in  the  stories  of  Fort  Sumter.  The  Ironsides 
was  a  "  broadsider, "  and  she  had  11-inch  guns,  of  which  she  carried  eight 
or  nine  on  each  side.  As  her  guns  were  lighter  than  those  of  the  monitors 
and  mounted  in  the  ordinary  way,  she  could  fire  much  faster  than  they 
could,  and  so  she  was  pretty  much  a  solid  mass  of  flame  all  the  time. 

The  bombardment  lasted  from  10  a.  m.  till  past  2  in  the  afternoon. 
Meantime  quite  a  force  of  sailors  and  marines  had  been  landed  below  the 
fort,  but  they  were  not  at  first  in  sight  from  our  anchorage.  By  2  o'clock 
the  fire  from  the  heavy  guns  of  the  fort  had  ceased.  Many  of  them  were 
dismounted,  and  the  shells  from  the  fleet  had  driven  the  Confederate  Can 
noneers  to  take  shelter  in  their  bombproofs.  The  fleet  now  suddenly  ceased 
firing  and  began  to  blow  their  steam  whistles,  which  made  a  din  almost 
equal  to  the  cannonade.  This  was  the  signal  for  assault.  At  this  time  the 
infantry  nearest  the  river  had  gotten  up  within  80  or  100  yards  of  the  fort, 
and  in  order  to  get  a  clear  view  of  the  assault  the  sailors  on  the  transport 


332  THE  CANNONEER. 

began  to  mount  -mo  the  rigging.  "Old  Sig  "  took  his  station  in  the  main 
top,  together  with  First  Officer  Hanscomb,  and  by  permission  of  this  officer 
I  climbed  up  too.  The  ship  was  rolling  considerably,  which  made  the 
maintop  a  ticklish  place  for  a  landsman. 

Mike  declined  to  try  it  at  all,  saying  that  he  could  see  enough  from  the 
bridge.  The  right  of  the  line  of  men-of-war  was  now  hauled  in  or  shortened, 
the  vessels  of  the  right  division  falling  into  a  second  line  astern  of  the  center 
division.  Probably  15  minutes  elapsed  between  the  blowing  of  the  whistles 
.and  the  grand  advance  of  the  infantry  against  the  north  face  of  the  fort. 
They  did  not  encounter  so  heavy  a  rire  of  musketry  at  first  as  I  expected 
to  see,  but  the  sailors  and  marines  who  were  assaulting  the  sea  face  got  cold 
lead  in  big  doses.  From  where  we  were  it  looked  as  if  the  enemy  was  con 
centrating  his  whole  defense  on  the  sea  face.  In  less  time  than  it  takes  to 
write  it  the  infantry  had  mounted  the  parapet  nearest  the  river  and  jumped 
•down  into  the  works.  We,  of  course,  supposed  that  this  would  finish  the 
business,  and  momentarily  expected  the  tokens  of  surrender.  But  we  little 
•understood  the  nature  of  the  fort.  It  was  so  traversed  and  retrenched  on  the 
inside  that  it  really  amounted  to  a  line  of  small  redoubts  inside  of  one  large 
fortress,  and  the  continuous  angry  crackle  of  musketry,  with  dense  volumes 
of  smoke  rolling  up  from  the  inside,  told  that  the  garrison  was  defending 
•every  inch  of  the  works  with  desperate  resolution.  At  the  time  this  looked 
like  useless  slaughter,  though  in  the  light  of  subsequent  history  it  appears 
that  the  gallant  garrison  was  holding  out  in  the  vain  hope  that  Hoke's 
•column  from  Wilmington  would  make  a  diversion  in  their  favor  ;  though 
they  must  have  had  a  queer  idea  of  what  would  have  been  involved  in  an 
attempt  to  advance  infantry  over  that  narrow  sandspit,  swept  as  it  was 
from  sea  to  river  by  the  guns  of  60  men-of-war ! 

However,  the  struggle  inside  the  great  fort  went  on  until  it  assumed 
the  proportions  of  a  regular  battle,  lasting  until  after  dark.  The  monitors 
kept  throwing  a  shell  now  and  then,  but  it  was  dangerous  business,  as  our 
troops  had  cleaned  out  about  half  of  the  enemy's  traverses  and  they  were 
slowly  working  their  way  through  the  others.  Darkness  did  not  end  the 
•combat,  but  the  fitful  flashes  kept  lighting  up  the  crest  of  the  long  sand 
parapet  and  revealing  the  outlines  of  the  traverses  and  retrenchments  in 
side.  The  monitors  and  New  Ironsides  also  opened  again  with  shell  against 
the  south  end  of  the  sea  face,  from  which  our  sailors  and  marines  had  been 
repulsed,  and  for  half  or  three-quarters  of  an  hour  the  sight  was  indescriba 
bly  grand.  But  about  this  time  the  wind  lulled,  so  that  the  smoke  did 
not  drift  away,  and  the  fort  and  the  monitors  lay  enveloped  in  a  huge  pall, 
which,  added  to  the  gloom  of  the  night,  gave  a  weird  effect  to  the  flashes 
of  the  15-inch  guns  and  the  blaze  of  the  bursting  shells.  This  lasted  till 
about  9  o'clock  at  night,  when  the  musketry  ceased  inside  the  fort,  and 
soon  after  the  ships  began  signaling  with  different-colored  rockets,  which 
made  another  beautiful  spectacle.  There  was  not  much  sleep  that  night. 
Shortly  after  the  fort  surrendered — say  about  11  o'clock  —  the  gunboat 
Wilderness  stood  out  and  signaled  the  six  transports  of  our  division  to  get 


LANDING  THE  SIEGE  GUNS.  333' 

under  weigh  and  to  follow  her  "in  line  ahead,"  as  "Old  Sig*'  explained  to 
us.  We  then  steamed  slowly  down  astern  of  the  outer  or  u  reserve  line ' 
of  the  men-of-war,  and  by  daylight  on  the  16th  anchored  in  Smith's  Sound. 
We  had  hardly  anchored  here  when  orders  were  sent  on  board  to  prepare 
to  land  12  of  the  siege  guns,  together  with  all  the  small-arm  and  field  ar 
tillery  ammunition,  and  half  of  the  siege  ammunition  that  we  had.  At 
the  same  time  we  saw  the  enemy  preparing  to  abandon  Forts  Caswell  and 
Johnston  and  evacuating  the  town  of  Smithville,  which  was  about  five 
miles  from  us.  Several  of  the  smaller  gunboats  stood  in  close  to  Fort  Cas 
well  and  materially  expedited  the  departure  of  the  Confederate  garrison, 
who  retreated  precipitately  along  the  narrow  neck  of  sand  in  rear  of  the 
fort  after  blowing  up  its  magazine  and  setting  fire  to  the  buildings  inside 
the  works.  We  remained  at  this  anchorage  till  the  morning  of  the  17th, 
when  boats  and  scows  came  alongside  in  tow  of  steamlanches  to  land  the 
guns  and  ammunition.  The  guns  were  stowed  in  the  hold,  dismounted, 
with  their  carriages,  the  wheels  being  taken  off  and  the  ammunition  chests 
disconnected.  A  line  of  about  three-inch  hawser  had  to  be  passed  around 
the  gun  below  the  trunnions  and  brought  together  with  a  marline,  engaging, 
the  cascabel  knob,  so  that  the  gun  when  slung  would  hang  muzzle  down ; 
then  it  was  hoisted  up  out  of  the  hold,  passed  over  the  side  and  lowered 
into  the  boat  or  scow  alongside.  As  it  reached  the  boat  it  had  to  be  steadied 
by  the  muzzle  and  let  down  carefully  to  a  horizontal  position  onto  the  skids 
provided  for  it,  otherwise  the  Rodman  siege  piece  would  have  made  a  hole 
through  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  and  all  would  have  gone  down  together. 
There  was  quite  an  "old  swell "  running  in  through  the  new  inlet  at  this- 
time,  so  that  it  required  pretty  nice  calculation  to  handle  these  heavy  pieces 
and  their  cumbrous  carriages,  but  we  got  through  with  it  in  two  days,  am 
munition  and  all.  As  Mike  Clancey  and  I  superintended  the  whole  work 
of  debarking  the  siege  guns,  in  consequence  of  Lieut.  Budd,  Acting  Ord 
nance  Officer,  being  too  sick  to  keep  the  deck,  the  Lieutenant  called  us  to 
his  cot  in  the  cabin  and  took  down  our  names,  with  the  batteries  to  which 
we  belonged,  saving  that  he  w^ould  mention  our  names  in  his  report  for 
valuable  services  and  meritorious  conduct.  But  I  never  saw  him  after  he 
landed  the  next  day  at  Smithville,  and  do  not  know  whether  he  remem 
bered  us  in  his  report  or  not.  But  from  what  I  saw  of  him  during  that 
voyage  —  in  which  he  appeared  at  a  disadvantage  from  his  constant  and 
severe  seasickness —  he  struck  me  as  a  remarkable  example  of  my  invariable 
luck  in  always  getting  with  excellent  officers  ! 

After  we  finished  the  debarkation  of  guns  and  ammunition  I  got  a 
chance  to  go  ashore  at  Smithville,  which  had  been  occupied  by  our  troops 
the  night  before.  There  was  nothing  of  interest  there,  and  I  soon  returned 
to  the  ship  with  the  First  Officer's  boat.  I  was  very  anxious  to  get  ashore 
on  Federal  Point,  so  as  to  inspect  Fort  Fisher  and  the  Mound  battery,  but 
could  not  get  an  opportunity.  The  old  transport  remained  at  her  anchor 
in  Smith's  Sound  a  few  days,  when  she  was  ordered  to  Fort  Monroe,  where 
we  arrived  in  due  time.  I  got  a  passage  to  City  Point  that  night  on  the 


:334  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

mailboat,  and  reported  for  duty  at  the  ammunition  wharf  at  City  Point 
again,  having  witnessed  two  of  the  wonders  of  warlike  annals :  First,  the 
landing  of  an  infantry  corps  on  an  ocean  beach  in  a  January  surf,  and,  sec- 
-ond,  the  bombardment  and  assault  on  Fort  Fisher — two  exploits  without 
parallel  in  history  !  Whereupon  I  resumed  the  peaceful  duties  of  counting 
out  and  checking  off  deliveries  of  ammunition  and  the  unloading  ot  barges. 
But  I  made  the  evenings  in  our  old  shanty  lively  for  some  time  with  my 
anecdotes  of  the  great  expedition,  my  admiring  and  appreciating  audience 
of  jolly  comrades — Burke,  Holley,  Nelson,  Ross  and  Billy  Wheaton.  And 
so  the  rest  of  the  Winter  of  1864-65  passed  away. 

About  March  10  I  was  relieved  from  duty  at  the  wharf  by  a  Veteran 
Reserve  man  and  reported  back  to  division  headquarters.  Here  a  brief  re 
sume  of  what  had  happened  since  December  may  be  interesting.  During 
the  Winter  of  1864-65  the  Fifth  Corps  had  held  the  line  from  at  or  near 
Fort  Howard,  across  the  Weldon  Railroad  westward  to  Poplar  Spring 
Church,  and  also  back  down  the  railroad  from  Fort  Wadsworth,  near 
Globe  Tavern,  where  Warren  had  his  headquarters,  to  Fort  Dushane,  near 
which  was  the  Winter  camp  of  the  Artillery  Brigade.  When  I  first  re 
turned  from  the  Valley  campaign  in  November,  1864,  there  were  no  less 
than  11  batteries  in  the  brigade,  all  in  a  pretty  good  state  of  efficiency  and 
many  of  them  fully  recruited  up.  They  were,  as  before  stated,  Phillips's 
5th  Massachusetts,  Bigelow's  9th  Massachusetts,  Rawles's  (D  and  G)  5th 
Regulars,  Mitchell's  (Stewart's  B)  4th  Regulars,  Cooper's  1st  Pennsyl 
vania  (then  commanded  by  Lieut.  McMcClellan),  together  with  Bat 
teries  B,  C,  D,  E,  H  and  L  of  the  1st  New  York.  But  now,  as  the  old 
Fifth  Corps  had  been  selected  to  lead  the  advance  of  the  army,  "left  in 
front, ' '  and  was  ' '  stripped  to  the  buff, ' '  the  Artillery  Brigade  was  consid 
erably  cut  down.  The  two  Massachusetts  batteries,  three  of  the  six  New 
York  batter ie sand  Cooper 's(McClellan's)  1st  Pennsylvania  were  left  in  the 
forts,  and  only  Rawles's  and  ours — Regulars  —  and  Mink's,  Johnson's  and 
Rodgers's  Batteries  (H,  D  and  B,  1st  New  York,)  were  ordered  out  in  line 
of  march.  The  infantry  organizations  of  the  corps  had  changed  a  great  deal. 
The  old  Iron  Brigade  had  ceased  to  exist  as  a  separate  organization.  During 
the  Fall  of  1864  the  remaining  of  the  6th  and  7th  Wisconsin  —  now  recruited 
beyond  recognition  by  conscripts,  etc.  — and  the  24th  Michigan  had  been 
consolidated  with  the  remnants  of  Roy  Stone's  old  Keystone  Brigade,  of 
Gettysburg  fame,  and  the  whole  was  commanded  by  Gen.  Edward  S.  Bragg, 
formerly  Colonel  of  the  6th  Wisconsin.  But  in  the  Appomattox  campaign 
the  6th  and  7th  Wisconsin  were  formed  with  the  91st  New  York  into  a 
Provisional  Brigade  under  Col.  Kellogg.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
immortal  old  ' '  Fighting  Fifth  ' '  drew  out  of  its  lines  in  front  of  Petersburg 
long  before  daylight  on  the  29th  of  March,  1865,  stripped  itself  for  bivouac 
and  battle,  cast  a  thought  toward  thousands  of  Northern  homes,  whispered 
a  hope  for  victory  and  peace  and  started  for  Appomattox  Courthouse  ! 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


WE  START  FOR  APPOMATTOX — BRILLIANT  OPERATIONS  OF  THE  FIFTH 
CORPS  —  FOUR  VICTORIES  IN  FOUR  DAYS  —  MITCHELL  WOUNDED 
—  FIVE  FORKS  —  CHARGE  OF  GRIFFIN'S  DIVISION  —  TOTAL  DE 
STRUCTION  OF  PICKETT'S  FORCE  —  GEN.  WARREN  RELIEVED  — 
THE  FIFTH  CORPS  SYMPATHIZES  WITH  HIM  —  GEN.  GRIFFIN 
TAKES  COMMAND  —  PURSUIT  OF  THE  REBEL  ARMY  — JETERS- 
VILLE  —  LlGONTON  —  PRINCE  EDWARD  COURTHOUSE  —  PROSPECT 
STATION — APPOMATTOX  —  WE  HEAD  LEE  OFF  —  THE  WHITE 
FLAG  —  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  SURRENDER. 

E  well  understood  that  the  movement 
on  the  29th  of  March  was  designed  to 
take  Lee  in  the  rear  and  break  up  his 
last  remaining  lines  of  communication 
—  the  Danville  and  Southside  Rail 
roads.  We  knew  that  Sherman's  army 
was  steadily  thrashing  its  way  north 
ward  through  the  Carolinas.  The 
universal  feeling  among  the  troops 
was  that  Grant's  bulldog  grip  on  Lee's 
throat  had  at  last  begun  to  "tell." 
And  we  also  knew  that  the  music  was 
to  be  by  the  full  band  !  We  were  all 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  grim,  un 
relenting  spirit  of  ' '  Old  Unconditional  Surrender. ' '  The  Fifth  Corps  troops 
were  glad  to  swing  loose  from  the  trenches,  and  proud  of  their  selection  to 
lead  the  advance  of  the  army,  ' '  left  in  front. ' '  We  moved  rapidly  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  night  to  Ream's  Station,  and  thence  to  Monk's  Neck 
Bridge,  over  the  Rowanty,  where  we  halted  to  let  the  cavalry  pass  toward 
Dinwiddie  Courthouse.  In  the  morning  we  moved  by  the  right  flank  up 
the  Quaker  Road,  Griffin's  Division  leading.  This  movement  was  cautious 
and  deliberate,  it  being  Gen.  Warren's  purpose  to  develop  the  enemy  with 
out  exposing  his  own  head  of  column  or  flank  to  a  surprise  from  the  woods, 
which  covered  most  of  the  ground. 

Speaking  of  the  operations  early  in  the  morning  of  March  29,  Gen. 
Humphreys  in  his  History  says  that  "  Gen.  Warren,  after  advancing  Griffin's 
Division  to  within  two  miles  of  Dinwiddie  Courthouse,  withdrew  it  to  the 
Quaker  Road, ' '  etc.  I  think  the  official  reports  will  show  that  only  Bart- 
lett's  Brigade  was  advanced  in  that  direction,  and  that  the  other  two  bri- 


336  THE  CANXOXEEK. 

gades  merely  stood  in  readiness  to  support  Bartlett.  If  the  whole  division 
had  gone  Mitchell's  and  Mink's  Batteries  would  have  proceeded  with  it, 
as  they  were  that  day  reporting  directly  to  Griffin,  and  I  know  that  the 
Latteries  remained  on  the  Quaker  Road  just  above  the  Vaughn  Road  junc 
tion  until  past  noon.  About  6  or  7  a.  m.  Maj.  Cope,  of  Warren's  staff, 
came  to  Griffin  and,  after  a  few  words  between  them,  Bartlett  was  put  in 
motion  toward  the  sounds  of  the  cavalry  skirmishing  near  Dinwiddie. 
Cope  asked  Griffin  to  lend  him  a  courier,  and  I  was  ordered  to  go.  We  had 
not  proceeded  more  than  two  miles  when  Maj.  Cope  sent  a  message  to 
Gen.  Warren,  which  appeared  to  be  of  some  importance,  as  it  resulted  in 
the  immediate  withdrawal  of  Bartlett's  Brigade  to  the  former  position  at 
the  junction  of  the  Vaughn  and  Quaker  Roads.  I  have  since  learned  that 
this  note  informed  Warren  that  Gen.  Bartlett  was  satisfied  from  the  indi 
cations  he  had  developed  that  the  enemy's  main  force  was  still  on  the 
north  side  of  Gravelly  Run,  and  that  a  prompt  movement  against  them  there 
would  probably  be  more  effective  in  relieving  the  pressure  upon  Sheridan 
than  a  direct  support  by  part  of  the  Fifth  Corps  would  be.  As  it  is  only 
about  three-and-a-half  miles  from  the  Vaughn  and  Quaker  Roads  junction 
to  Dinwiddie  Courthouse,  it  will  be  seen  that  Bartlett's  advance  of  nearly 
two  miles,  or  more  than  half  the  way,  must  have  fully  developed  the  fact 
that  the  enemy  in  Sheridan's  front  was  not  in  heavy  force.  Bartlett 
moved  along  the  Vaughn  Road,  crossed  Cattail  Creek  and  halted  at  a  cross 
roads  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  southwest  of  the  creek  crossing,  from 
which  point  Maj.  Cope  sent  his  message  back  to  Warren.  This  point  is 
less  than  two  miles  east  of  Dinwiddie. 

So  about  noon  Bartlett  was  withdrawn,  and  Gen.  Warren  ordered  an 
advance  on  the  line  of  the  Quaker  Road,  informing  Gen.  Griffin  that  the 
enemy  would  be  found  about  two  miles  ahead  near  an  old  steam  sawmill, 
and  that  it  was  intended  to  attack  and  drive  him  into  his  intrenchments  on 
the  WThite  Oak  Road,  which  was  the  most  effective  way  that  the  Fifth  Corps 
could  support  the  cavalry  who  were  operating  on  our  left.  Gen.  Warren 
stated  that  Gen.  Meade  expected  him  to  make  a  lodgment  on  the  White 
Oak  Road  at  once,  so  as  to  separate  the  Rebel  force  at  Dinwiddie  from  Lee's 
main  army,  and  this  was  the  object  of  our  movement  up  the  Quaker  Road. 
At  this  time,  about  1  o'clock,  Gen.  Griffin  sent  me,  at  Gen.  Wainwright's 
request,  to  Mitchell,  Mink  and  Rawles,  whom  I  found  with  their  batteries 
about  half  a  mile  up  the  Quaker  Road.  The  General  directed  me  to  stay 
with  the  batteries,  in  readiness  to  bring  back  any  message  they  might  want 
to  send  to  him,  and  to  report  back  to  him  at  night  if  nothing  happened. 
Receiving  the  General's  orders,  Mitchell,  Rawles  and  Mink  moved  up  the 
Quaker  Road  with  Griffin's  Division,  old  B  marching  in  the  interval  between 
Chamberlain's  and  Gregory's  Brigades.  About  3  p.  m.  the  flankers  of 
Chamberlain's  Brigade  encountered  some  force  of  the  enemy  holding  the 
woods  on  the  left  (west  side)  of  the  Quaker  Road,  our  head  of  column  being 
then  in  the  "steam  sawmill  clearing,"  a  mile  or  so  south  of  the  junction  of 
the  Quaker  Road  with  the  Boydton  Plank.  These  woods,  or  rather  slashing, 


MITCHELL'S  LAST  BATTLE.  337 

where  the  larger  trees  had  been  cut  down  on  the  west  side  of  the  steam 
sawmill  clearing,  were  full  of  log  roads.  Chamberlain's  infantry  deployed 
rapidly  and  drove  the  enemy's  skirmishers  back  to  their  main  line,  but 
when  the  Battery  attempted  to  follow  they  found  the  log  roads  obstructed 
by  fallen  trees.  While  they  were  working  to  remove  these  trees  the  Second 
Brigade  (Gregory's)  swarmed  through  the  brush  to  support  Chamberlain, 
and  some  of  them  fell  out  of  ranks  to  help  clear  the  roads.  As  soon  as  the 
guns  could  get  through  they  went  into  battery  in  the  clearing  west  of  this 
slashing,  where  there  was  a  house  surrounded  by  outbuildings.  At  this 
moment  Chamberlain's  Brigade  was  hard  pressed  to  the  left  and  Gregory's 
appeared  to  be  in  some  confusion,  but  in  the  main  holding  their  ground. 

When  the  Battery  got- out  into  the  clearing  Mitchell  directed  Vose  to 
take  the  left  section  to  the  left  of  the  house  and  form  011  the  southwest 
side  of  it,  while  he  himself,  with  the  right  section,  under  command  of  our 
Orderly  Sergeant,  Henry  Moore,  passed  to  the  right  of  the  house  and  formed 
in  the  edge  of  a  small  orchard  of  young  peach  trees  north  of  it.  When 
Mitchell  had  ordered  Vose  to  form  the  left  section  below  the  house  he  told 
me  to  remain  in  the  rear  of  the  building  till  further  orders.  The  infantry 
out  in  the  fields  west  and  south  of  the  house  were  firing  pretty  lively,  and 
the  ' '  spat ' '  of  half-spent  balls  against  the  clapboards  was  disagreeably  fre 
quent.  Meantime  Vose  had  unlimbered  his  section,  and  I  heard  "Old 
Betsey's"  voice  for  the  first  time  since  July,  1864.  I  could  easily  distin 
guish  her  from  the  other  gun  of  the  section,  and  it  excited  me  a  little. 
Perhaps  the  heroic  thing  would  have  been  to  rush  to  my  old  gun  and  vol 
unteer  to  help  work  her.  But,  judging  from  the  way  she  talked,  her 
family  of  ' '  stepchildren  "  —  the  New  Kegulars  and  recruits  —  were  treating 
the  old  lady  well,  and,  besides,  I  was  not  hunting  for  glory  just  then,  not 
having  lost  any  that  I  knew  of.  Therefore  I  remained  behind  the  house. 
In  another  minute  Mitchell  opened  with  the  right  section,  and  after  firing 
two  or  three  rounds  he  came  riding  around  where  I  was,  on  his  way  down 
to  the  left  section,  leaving  Henry  Moore  in  command  of  the  right.  What 
a  picture  he  was  !  His  fine  features  aglow  with  the  light  of  battle,  his 
dark-gray  eyes  fairly  black  and  flashing  !  He  wore  a  splendid  new  uni 
form  glittering  in  scarlet  braid,  a  crimson  sash,  and  morocco  boots  that 
came  above  his  knees.  Thus  mounted  on  his  brown  stallion,  who  was 
curvetting  finely,  he  certainly  was  a  thing  of  beauty.  He  had  reached  the 
summit  of  his  ambition,  as  he  was  now,  for  the  first  time,  independently 
commanding  in  action  the  old  Battery  which  had  been  literally  his  home 
for  11  years  !  As  he  saw  me  he  called  out :  "Hello,  Cubby,  what  are  you 
doing  here  ? ' ' 

' '  Awaiting  orders,  sir. ' ' 

"Come  on  then  ;  come  with  me  !  " 

I  confess  that  I  couldn't  see  why  I  should  go  down  into  the  field  or 
what  good  I  could  do  there  or  why  the  rear  of  the  house  was  not  about  the 
best  place  for  me  just  then,  but  there  was  no  su~h  thing  as  flunking  when 
Mitchell  said  "come  on,"  and  so  I  wheeled  the  little  mare  and  trotted  after 


338  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

him  —  with  about  as  many  misgivings  as  I  ever  felt  in  my  life.  I  was  su 
perstitious  enough  to  think  that  a  fellow  who  went  under  fire  uselessly  or 
unnecessarily  was  more  likely  to  get  hit  than  under  other  circumstances. 
However,  choking  down  these  feelings,  I  went  along.  Vose  was  right  up 
in  the  section,  between  the  guns,  sitting  his  horse  stiffly — West  Point 
fashion — and  the  boys,  recruits  as  they  were,  were  making  the  fur  fly,  and 
no  mistake.  Just  as  we  reached  the  caissons  Vose  changed  front  with  the 
left  piece  to  fire  to  the  left  and  the  whole  scene  flashed  upon  us. 

Chamberlain's  Brigade  —  consisting  of  only  two  regiments,  the  185th 
New  York  and  198th  Pennsylvania  —  being  flanked  on  its  left  and  assailed 
in  front  at  the  same  time,  had  fallen  into  some  confusion.  The  Eebels  were 
:fighting  as  well  as  I  had  ever  seen  them  fight,  pressing  close  up  and  firing 
very  rapidly.  Col.  Sickle,  commanding  the  198th,  was  riding  up  and  down 
his  line,  brandishing  his  saber  and  shouting,  in  the  effort  to  hold  his  Penn- 
sylvanians  to  their  work,  when  he  and  his  horse  went  down  all  in  a  heap, 
the  Colonel  badly  wounded  and  the  horse  killed.  At  this  the  regiment 
hastily  fell  back  toward  the  woods,  leaving  the  185th  New  York  unsup 
ported,  and  they  retired  also,  though  both  were  immediately  reformed  in 
the  edge  of  the  brush  and  brought  forward  again  in  less  than  10  minutes 
by  Gen.  Chamberlain,  who  literally  "  led  his  men,"  riding,  sword  in  hand, 
•clear  out  in  front  of  his  line.  But  during  this  interval  the  section  was  with 
out  support,  and  the  enemy  made  a  determined  effort  to  take  it.  There 
was  the  remains  of  a  fence  in  our  front  about  200  feet  from  our  muzzles, 
along  which  a  straggling  growth  of  saplings  and  bushes  stood  ;  and  when 
they  reached  this  they  halted  and  delivered  one  of  the  most  dreadful  blizzards 
of  musketry  that  I  ever  saw  right  into  the  unsupported  section.  I  don't  sup 
pose  their  nearest  men  were  more  than  60  yards  from  us,  and  their  whole 
line  —  probably  200  or  250  yards  long — concentrated  every  bullet  on  us. 
They  hit  poor  Mitchell  in  four  places,  smashing  his  arm  and  tearing  his  neck, 
left  shoulder  and  right  side.  This  last  shot  broke  some  of  his  ribs,  but  did 
not  penetrate  the  cavity  of  the  body  —  glancing  from  his  ribs  !  They  killed 
the  poor  little  Swede,  Freytong,  shooting  him  right  through  the  head  and 
also  in  the  breast,  so  that  he  never  knew  what  hurt  him !  And  they 
wounded  Nell  Graham,  mortally,  I  think,  Cunningham  and  Jim  McCallan, 
of  our  section,  severely,  and  two  or  three  others  slightly.  Still  the  section 
stood  its  ground  and  answered  this  blizzard  with  another  blast  of  canister, 
and  still  another.  By  this  time  Chamberlain's  renewed  advance  and  the 
appearance  of  Bartlett's  Brigade,  or  part  of  it,  through  the  woods,  took 
effect  on  the  enemy,  and,  after  some  straggling  musketry  from  the  line  of 
the  old  fence,  they  broke  and  fled  in  great  confusion  back  to  their  little 
breastworks  on  the  Boydton  Road.  Bartlett's  Brigade,  being  now  clear  of 
the  woods,  deployed  at  a  double  quick  and  charged  after  them.  Bartlett 
carried  their  intrenchments  on  the  Boydton  Road  in  grand  style,  captur 
ing  about  200  prisoners,  doubling  their  right  flank  back  nearly  a  mile  and 
advancing  to  near  the  Dabney  House,  where  he  halted  in  consequence  of 
night  coming  on,  which  put  an  end  to  this  conflict. 


RECRUITS  ox  THEIR  METTLE.  339 

Every  one  of  the  new  men  or  boys  stood  their  ground  here  in  a  manner 
worth}'  of  the  old  Iron  Brigade  veterans  in  their  palmiest  days,  and  there 
was  no  more  flinching  or  flickering  at  Gravelly  Run  than  at  Antietam, 
Gettysburg  or  Spottsylvania  !  So  that  the  old  Battery  wound  up  its  long, 
splendid  career  in  a  perfect  blaze  of  glory.  In  fact,  I  think  that  candor 
compels  me  to  say  that  the  recruits  stood  up  to  it  better  than  I  did,  because 
when  I  saw  that  line  of  Rebel  muzzles  come  down  I  took  to  cover  mighty 
quick ;  but,  perhaps,  I  knew  better  than  some  of  them  did  what  a  Rebel 
blizzard  meant  at  that  range  !  At  all  events,  knowing,  as  we  all  did,  that 
"the  jig  was  nearly  up,"  I  had  no  stomach  for  being  killed  or  crippled 
just  at  the  end  of  the  war.  But  my  heart  bled  for  poor  Freytong,  who  was 
killed  in  his  tracks ;  for  Ellis  Graham,  who  was  mortally  wounded,  and 
for  Lieut.  Mitchell,  whose  hard  fate  it  was  to  be  crippled  in  his  33d  battle 
and  within  10  days  of  the  collapse  of  the  Rebellion.  Ord.  Serg't  Henry 
Moore  ought  to  have  been  promoted  for  his  behavior  in  this  action  ;  he  was 
a  well-educated  man,  of  gentlemanly  bearing,  and  had  seen  eight  years 
continuous  service  in  the  Battery  at  this  time.  It  was  understood  that 
Gen.  Wainwright  recommended  him,  but  the  war  ended  so  soon  that  there 
was  no  chance  for  the  recommendation  to  be  acted  upon. 

Mitchell  was  in  the  llth  year  of  his  service,  every  day  of  which  he 
had  spent  in  the  Battery.  He  had  been  Driver,  Cannoneer,  Gunner,  Chief 
of  Piece,  Quartermaster  Sergeant,  Orderly  Sergeant,  Second  Lieutenant 
and  Lieutenant  Commanding.  He  had  been  under  fire  with  the  Battery 
in  almost  every  battle  it  had  seen  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  until  this 
the  10th  day  before  its  end.  After  he  received  his  wounds  he  remained 
with  the  Battery  until  dark,  and  did  not  relinquish  his  post  until  one  of 
the  brigade  Surgeons  had  informed  him  that  an  attempt  to  remain  at  the 
front  four  hours,  with  its  attendant  fatigue  and  excitement,  would  cer 
tainly  cost  him  his  right  arm  and  probably  his  life.  He  then  consented  to 
be  taken  to  the  rear.  He  was  taken  back  to  the  steam  sawmill,  where 
some  of  the  First  Division  ambulances  had  arrived.  Here  his  wounds  were 
dressed  and  pronounced  not  dangerous,  and  we  made  him  as  comfortable 
as  we  could  until  morning  in  one  of  the  old  sheds  at  the  mill,  when  he  was 
put  in  an  ambulance  and  taken  to  the  nearest  station  on  the  Military  Rail 
way —  the  one  at  the  Squirrel  Level  Road,  near  Armstrong's  Mill.  I  never 
saw  him  again.  He  died  three  years  afterward,  at  Fort  Leaven  worth.  He 
had  been  promoted  from  First  Lieutenant  in  the  Battery  to  a  Captaincy  in 
the  43d  Regular  Infantry  in  1866,  and  when  that  regiment  was  mustered 
out  in  1368  he  was  retained  on  the  List,  in  view  of  his  services  and  his 
wounds,  though  most  of  the  other  officers  were  mustered  out  with  the  regi 
ment.  But  he  could  not  pass  examination  for  active  service,  having  one 
arm,  one  leg  and  one  hand  crippled,  together  with  a  wound  in  the  side 
which  never  completely  healed. 

Pausing  a  moment  to  give  a  parting  word  to  the  memory  of  this  noble 
man  and  splendid  soldier,  it  suffices  to  say  that  his  death  was  as  tragic  as 
his  life  had  been  heroic. 


340  THE  CANNONEER. 

As  well  as  I  can  recollect,  John  Mitchell  was  born  in  Belfast,  Ireland, 
about  the  year  1830.  He  came  into  our  Regular  Army  in  1854,  joining 
Battery  B  about  three  years  before  the  Utah  expedition.  He  served  in 
the  Battery  as  private,  Corporal,  Sergeant  and  First  Sergeant  until  August, 
1863,  when  he  was  made  Lieutenant.  He  took  command  of  the  Battery 
in>  November  or  December,  1864,  succeeding  Stewart,  and  retained  the 
command  until  mortally  wounded  at  Gravelly  Run,  March  29,  1865.  I 
say  "mortally  wounded,"  l>ecause,  though  he  lived  three  years  after  that, 
his  death  was  caused  by  those  wounds,  and  he  never  was  a  well  man  after 
he  received  them.  In  person  he  was  about  five  feet  10  or  11  inches  high, 
of  medium  build,  well  knit  and  powerful,  and  in  "fighting  condition" 
would  weigh  about  160  pounds.  He  had  a  small  waist  and  limbs,  but  his 
shoulders  were  broad  and  square.  His  features  were  clean  cut  and  regu 
lar,  and  his  complexion  florid.  He  wore  a  very  dark  brown  or  sort  of 
bronze-colored  mustach.  His  hair  was  almost  black,  and  curled  when  he 
let  it  grow  to  any  length,  though  as  a  rule  he  kept  it  cut  short  after  the 
' '  old  Regular ' '  fashion.  His  eyes  were  large  and  dark  gray,  with  heavy 
dark  brows  and  long  eyelashes  —  the  true  Irish  gray  eye  that  novelists  so 
love  to  describe.  The  whole  expression  of  his  features  bespoke  the  benig 
nity  and  generosity  of  his  nature.  The  only  blemish  in  his  face  was  that 
his  nose  turned  slightly  to  one  side  —  a  relic  of  his  early  days  in  the  ranks, 
when  some  muscular  comrade  had  broken  it  in  one  of  his  numerous  fights. 
In  character  he  was  the  perfect  soldier,  ' '  first,  last  and  always. ' '  There 
never  was  a  man  of  kinder  heart,  gentler  nature  or  sweeter  disposition 
than  he  had.  And  never  a  man  of  quicker  temper,  swifter  hand  or  fiercer 
courage!  A  good  many  veterans  of  Battery  B  are  still  living — perhaps 
50  all  told  —  who  knew  John  Mitchell,  either  as  a  Sergeant  or  a  Lieuten 
ant,  and  not  one  of  them  will  dispute  my  view  of  his  character.  He 
was  simply  all  that  a  soldier,  comrade,  or  man  could  be.  He  had  faults, 
like  all  of  us,  but  they  injured  no  one  except  himself.  As  an  officer  he 
could  not  help  showing  partiality  toward  men  who  had  been  with  him  a 
long  time.  As  a  man  he  was  convivial  to  a  fault,  and  no  doubt  his  ex 
cesses  had  something  to  do  with  hastening  his  untimely  end.  But  that  is 
not  for  me  to  say.  I  can  only  say  that  John  Mitchell  was  one  of  nature's 
noblemen.  I  have  always  associated  him  with  Joaquin  Miller's  poetic 
description  of  "  Walker  in  Nicaragua."  Mitchell  might  easily  have  been 
just  such  a  filibusterer  as  Walker.  He  was  a  soldier  and  — it  must  be  said 
—  nothing  else  !  But  such  a  soldier  ! ! 

For  he  was  true  as  any  star, 
And  brave  as  Yuba's  grizzlies  are. 
Tall,  courtly,  grand  as  any  King, 
Yet  simple  as  a  child  at  play, 
In  camp  and  court  the  same  alway, 
And  never  moved  at  anything. 
A  piercing1  eye,  a  princely  air, 
A  presence  like  a  chevalier, 
Half  angel  and  half  Lucifer. 


IN  MEMORY  OF  MITCHELL.  341 

A  sash  of  silk,  where  flashing1  swung 
A  saber  swift  as  serpent's  tongue. 
With  brawn  arm  arched  above  his  brow, 
Stood  there —  he  stands  that  picture  now  ! 
A  face  of  blended  pride  and  pain, 
Of  mingled  pleading  and  disdain  ! 
Speak  ill  of  him  who  will,  he  died  — 
Say  this  much  and  be  satisfied. 
I  only  say  that  he  to  me, 
Whatever  he  to  others  was, 
Was  truer  far  than  any  one 
That  I  have  known  beneath  the  sun. 

I  rejoice  that  I  have  the  opportunity  to  pay  this  feeble  tribute  to  his 
memory.  Lieut.  Vose  succeeded  him  in  command  of  the  Battery ,  and  two 
other  Lieutenants  were  assigned  to  it  temporarily.  Vose  had  a  ''hard  bil 
let,  ' '  following,  as  he  did,  James  Stewart  and  John  Mitchell  in  command  of 
such  a  battery  as  that  was.  But  it  is  fair  to  say  that  he  filled  it  most  credi 
tably.  The  morning  of  the  30th  of  March  was  about  as  dismal  as  I  ever 
saw.  A  cold  rain  had  fallen  all  night  and  was  still  pouring  down.  The 
roads  in/the  soft  soil  of  that  region  were  universal  quagmires.  It  was  al 
most  impossible  to  build  fires  to  boil  our  coftee  ;  our  forage  train  was  not 
up,  so  that  we  had  nothing  to  feed  our  horses  except  the  small  rations 
carried  with  the  batteries,  and  no  one,  from  Gen.  Griffin  down,  had 
the  slightest  shelter,  except  that  furnished  by  the  dripping  trees.  During 
the  forenoon  of  the  30th  I  was  employed  by  Gen.  Griffin  in  carrying  mes 
sages  to  the  brigade  commanders  and  communicating  with  Gen.  Crawford, 
who  was  operating  in  the  direction  of  the  Boydton  Plank  Eoad.  Complet 
ing  this  work,  I  rejoined  the  artillery,  and  in  the  afternoon  the  three  bat 
teries  were  ordered  to  move  up  the  crossroad  leading  from  the  Boydton 
Plank  to  the  White  Oak  Road  with  Ayres's  Division,  and  about  4  o'clock 
became  engaged  shelling  the  woods  beyond  a  clearing  called  Holliday's  to 
develop  the  enemy's  position.  We  fired  about  30  rounds  per  gun  of  shell 
and  case,  but  with  no  result,  except  that  after  we  ceased  Ayres's  skirmish 
ers  opened  up  these  woods  and  advanced  through  them  to  within  sight  of 
the  enemy's  intrenchments  on  the  White  Oak  Road  east  of  the  Five  Forks. 
They  were  opposed  by  the  enemy  in  some  force,  and  at  night  fell  back  to 
the  main  position.  Reporting  back  to  Gen.  Griffin  after  dark,  he  told  me 
to  remain  with  the  artillery  until  the  next  night,  and  then  report  to  him 
again.  About  two  hours  before  daylight  on  the  31st  Griffin's  Division 
was  relieved  by  Miles's  Division,  of  the  Second  Corps,  and  at  once  pushed 
out  toward  the  White  Oak  Road.  Our  Battery  and  Rawles's  were  pushed 
on  ahead,  and  ours,  passing  over  a  small  branch  of  Gravelly  Run,  went  in 
battery  in  what  was  known  as  the  Dabney  Farm,  about  500  yards  from  the 
house,  in  sight  of  the  enemy's  intrenchments  and  on  the  right  of  Ayres's 
leading  brigade,  which  was  just  deploying,  Rawles's  halting  behind  the 
little  branch.  The  enemy  now  sharply  attacked  Ayres's  troops  on  the  left 
flank,  extending  their  attack  toward  the  right  where  we  were,  and  nearly 
all  of  Ayres's  Division  gave  way,  falling  back  rapidly  toward  the  woods 


342 


THE  CANNONEER. 


on  the  south  and  the  little  creek  on  the  east.  This  brought  us  into  action, 
and  we  opened  with  canister  as  soon  as  the  retiring  infantry  had  cleared 
our  front.  This,  while  it  lasted,  was  as  handsome  practice  as  the  old  Bat- 
tery  had  ever  made.  The  Rebels  did  not  extend  their  attack  to  our  posi 
tion,  but  doubled  back  Ayres's  two  brigades  on  the  left,  until  they  crossed 
the  creek.  But  as  the  infantry  next  to  us  (part  of  Winthrop's  Brigade) 
began  to  fall  back  toward  the  creek  to  avoid  being  taken  in  their  left  flank 


i     ^t    Unions. 
_  ILebels. 

€r. Griffin,. 

A.—-A.yres. 

C. Oawforci. 


DIAGRAM  OF  WARREN'S  OPERATIONS  PRECEDING  FIVE  FORKS. 
in  consequence  of  the  retreat  of  the  others,  we  limbered  and  fell  back  leis 
urely  to  the  north  bank  of  the  creek.     Here  we  halted  and  went  into  bat 
tery  again,  Rawles  and  Mink  being  in  position  on  the  other  bank  of  the 
stream,  and  the  head  of  Griffin's  infantry  in  the  act  of  deploying. 

Lieut.  Johnson  now  came  up  with  Richardson's  old  Battery  (D,  1st 
New  York),  and  he  and  Mink  at  once  proceeded  to  Crawford's  part  of  the 
line,  which  was  hard  pressed.  Johnson  met  with  some  delay,  but  Mink 
formed  on  a  knoll  fronting  the  clearing  through  which  Crawford's  troops 
were  retreating,  and,  by  excellent  and  rapid  practice,  first  with  case  and 
finally  with  canister,  he  checked  the  enemy,  inflicting  much  loss  and  en 
couraging  Crawford's  troops  to  rally. 


RACE  BETWEEN  MINK  AND  JOHNSON.  343 

When  Mink  and  Deloss  Johnson  started  Avith  their  batteries  to  rein 
force  Crawford,  there  was  a  narrow  strip  of  woods,  fringing  a  small  stream, 
in  their  front.  The  semblance  of  a  road  led  through  this  brush  ;  but  old 
Charley  Mink,  knowing  a  good  deal  about  Virginia  wood  roads,  refused  to 
attempt  it,  and  calmly  hauled  his  battery  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  to 
get  around  the  head  of  the  brook  and  the  end  of  the  timber,  while  Deloss 
Johnson,  with  his  usual  impetuosity,  and  anxious  to  get  into  action  first, 
plunged  his  battery  into  the  wood  road,  where  he  was  directly  entangled 
with  fallen  trees,  dense  brush  and  a  swampy  creekbed,  so  that  he  could 
neither  advance  nor  turn  round  to  retrace  his  steps.  The  result  was  that 
Mink  got  the  lion's  share  of  the  glory  at  the  White  Oak  Road,  while 
Deloss  Johnson,  with  old  Battery  D,  was  struggling,  tugging  and  swearing 
vainly  in  the  brush.  Gen.  Wainwright,  in  his  official  report,  makes  a  refer 
ence  to  this  which,  to  persons  on  the  spot  and  conversant  wyith  the  facts,  is 
almost  comical.  He  says  : 

The  Second  and  Third  Divisions  being  driven  back  in  considerable  confu 
sion  from  the  White  Oak  Road,  Mink  and  Johnson  were  advanced  as  rapidly  as 
possible  through  the  woods  to  positions  commanding-  the  crossing  of  two  small 
streams.  The  position  taken  up  by  Maj.  Mink  was  an  excellent  one,  com 
manding  a  small  open  field  and  the  woods  beyond,  through  which  the  enemy 
was  advancing.  His  practice  was  most  admirable,  and  inflicted  severe  loss  on 
the  enemy.  Johnson's  Battery  was  almost  completely  in  the  woods,  and  the 
enemy  did  not  come  within  fair  view  of  his  pieces. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Gen.  Wainwright  says  that  Johnson  was  "in 
the  woods."  I  should  say  he  was !  As  we  would  say  nowadays,  he  was 
' '  in  the  soup  ! ' '  He  started  on  a  race  with  Charley  Mink  to  see  which 
should  get  in  action  first,  and  Charley  took  the  roundabout  road  through 
the  fields,  while  Deloss  plunged  into  the  woods.  Mink  got  there  and  had 
the  honor  of  performing  the  last  important  action  done  by  the  artillery  of 
the  Fifth  Corps.  Deloss  Johnson,  however,  by  dint  of  hard  swearing, 
heavy  log  rolling  and  corduroying  a  small  swamp,  succeeding  in  getting 
old  Battery  D  out  into  the  clearing  in  time  to  fire  a  few  case  shot  at  the 
retreating  enemy.  Deloss  was  one  of  the  most  meritorious  officers  in  the 
Artillery  Brigade,  and  had  worked  his  way  up  from  the  ranks  to  the  com 
mand  of  the  battery.  His  boys  said  that  when  they  had  to  clear  the  road, 
he  dismounted  and  jumped  in  to  help  them  move  logs,  handspike  in  hand. 
He  was  not  above  medium  size  but  very  powerful,  and  the  boys  of  Battery 
D  said  that  when  he  began  to  hear  Mink's  guns  out  in  the  clearing  he 
would  double  up  a  good  sized  oak  handspike  as  if  it  had  been  a  toothpick, 
lifting  at  an  obdurate  log  ! 

It  might  be  inferred  from  the  tenor  of  Gen.  Wainwright's  report,  as 
above  quoted,  that  Johnson  did  not  have  any  share  in  the  battle  of  the 
White  Oak  Road.  But  the  General  refers  to  the  first  phase  of  the  action 
only,  when  Ayres  was  driven  back.  After  Johnson  got  his  battery  into 
the  clearing  he  advanced  with  the  left  brigade  of  Crawford's  Division, 
and  in  the  latter  part  of  the  battle  was  sharply  engaged  at  close  range 
right  in  front  of  the  White  Oak  intrenchments,  where  at  least  two  of 


344  THE  CANNONEER. 

his  men — George  Pike  and  Lew  Stockwell  —  were  badly  wounded,  and 
I  think  others  were  hit. 

Gen.  Thomas  F.  McCoy,  of  the  107th  Pennsylvania,  says  of  this  affair 
in  a  letter  to  the  author  : 

Ayres's  Division  moved  forward  toward  the  White  Oak  Road  early  in  the 
day,  and  after  some  time  Crawford  crossed  the  little  run,  then  flooded  by  the 
rains  of  the  night  and  morning,  and  advanced  on  the  left  of  Ayres  and  did  not 
more  than  get  into  line  of  battle  when  Ayres's  Division  gave  way,  passing 
Crawford's  right,  Gwyn's  Brigade  making  an  effort  to  rally  on  Baxter's  Bri 
gade,  then  engaged  with  the  advancing  enemy  on  a  full  charge,  but  failed  to 
make  the  stand,  thus  leaving  our  right  in  the  air  without  any  support,  and 
Crawford's  line  was  necessarily  forced  back,  and  it  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  the 
left  of  the  corps  was  going  to  be  turned  and  doubled  back.  There  was  a  half 
mile  or  more  of  good  fighting  ground  in  the  open,  and  effort  after  effort  was 
made  to  rally  the  troops.  Gen.  Warren  was  on  the  ground  displaying  his  usual 
coolness,  skill  and  gallantry  in  uniting  with  such  officers  as  rallied  around  him 
in  efforts  to  stem  the  backward  movement.  At  length  Mink's  Battery  came  to 
our  aid  on  a  little  eminence  south  of  the  run,  and  with  the  stimulus  imparted 
by  it  the  enemy  was  checked  in  their  farther  advance,  and  a  good  position  was 
secured  for  reforming  our  lines.  This  battery  did  the  thing  that  was  above  all 
things  needed  at  this  time.  It  was  a  good  thing  to  have  artillery  about,  as  its 
very  presence  gave  life  and  confidence  to  the  troops. 

•  While  another  advance  was  in  preparation  Gen.  Meade  came  up  and  gave 
stimulus  to  this  movement.  It  was  probably  about  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
when  the  lines  were  reformed,  with  some  of  Griffin's  Division,  Chamberlain's 
and  Gregory's  Brigades,  I  think,  taking  the  place  of  Ayres's,  and  with  Craw 
ford's  Division  on  the  left  in  support,  and  over  about  the  same  ground  as  he 
occupied  the  early  part  of  the  day.  The  advance  was  in  good  force  and  in  good 
style,  and  was  a  great  success,  the  full  purpose  having  been  accomplished ;  so 
that  the  day,  beginning  in  a  rather  gloomy  way,  closed  with  joy  and  rejoicing, 
and  with  the  White  Oak  Road  in  our  possession. 

It  was  while  these  movements  were  in  progress  that  Sheridan,  having  pos 
session  of  the  Five  Forks,  was  attacked  and  forced  back  to  Dinwiddie.  Being 
but  two  or  three  miles  to  our  left,  and  partially  to  our  rear,  we  heard  the  firing 
and  could  tell  how  the  thing  was  working  and  threatening  disaster  to  Grant's 
plans.  Sheridan's  cavalry  force  was  about  10,000.  He  had  at  this  time  no  in 
fantry  under  his  command.  He  was  confronted  by  some  of  Lee's  best  infantry 
and  most  of  his  cavalry,  and  judged  it  prudent  to  give  ground,  fall  back 
gradually,  and  while  so  doing  call  on  the  General-in-Chief  for  infantry  support. 

In  the  course  of  an  hour  or  so  Griffin's  infantry  was  all  up  and  began 
to  move  forward  over  the  ground  which  Ayres  had  abandoned,  Chamber 
lain's  Brigade  now  leading  and  Gregory's  following,  our  Battery  advancing 
in  the  interval,  or  rather  keeping  pace  with  Gregory's  right  front.  Chamber 
lain  had  a  sharp  brush  with  the  enemy's  skirmish  line  at  and  about  the 
Dabney  House,  but  soon  routed  them,  and  Gregory's  Brigade,  swinging 
rapidly  to  our  right  and  then  deploying  by  the  left  flank,  crossed  the  road. 
Meantime  Chamberlain  assaulted  the  trenches  in  his  front  and  carried 
them,  and  Gregory  moving  toward  him,  with  his  line  across  the  road,  they 
caught  the  remains  of  the  Eebel  left  wing  between  them  and  captured  some 
200  or  300  prisoners,  with  a  flag  or  two.  This  was  called  the  battle  of 
the  White  Oak  Eoad.  We  took  no  part  in  the  latter  half  of  it,  except  to 
be  on  the  ground,  the  operations  of  the  infantry  being  so  rapid  that  there 


LIEUT.  VOSE  IN  COMMAND.  345 

was  no  occasion  for  artillery  fire.  Lieut.  Vose  commanded  the  Battery  in 
this  affair.  He  handled  it  in  good  shape,  and  seemed  to  be  very  proud  of 
its  behavior  during  the  brief  period  of  his  command.  Singularly  enough, 
though  serving  two  years  and  two  months  in  the  Eegular  artillery,  I  had 
not  been  under  the  command  of  any  West  Pointer  but  him,  and  was  under 
his  command  only  two  days,  March  30  and  31.  Of  the  five  officers  I  had 
known  in  Battery  B,  three — Stewart,  Davison  and  Mitchell  —  were  rankers ; 
one,  Goodman,  was  a  detached  volunteer  officer,  and  Vose  alone  was  from 
the  Military  Academy  ;  while  of  the  three  officers  I  had  known  in  Battery 
M,  two,  Mc-Knight  and  Baldwin,  were  appointed  from  civil  life,  and  the 
other,  Fred  Robinson,  was  a  ranker.  As  previously  ordered,  I  reported 
again  that  night  to  Gen.  Griffin,  and  never  served  with  the  guns  after  the 
battle  of  White  Oak  Road.  In  this  battle  Elmer  Babcock,  a  Corporal  in 
Mink's  Battery,  was  killed.  He  and  I  had  been  acquainted  before  the  war. 
He  was  older  than  I,  but  we  were  very  good  friends,  and  I  was  much  pained 
at  his  tragic  death  so  near  the  end  of  the  war  and  after  escaping  so  many 
perils.  Poor  Babcock  was  the  last  man  killed  in  the  Artillery  Brigade  of 
the  Fifth  Corps. 

According  to  history  as  written  there  was  nothing  worthy  the  name  of 
a  battle  in  this  campaign  except  Five  Forks  ;  but  the  fact  is  —  and  some 
day  a  better  writer  and  more  experienced  soldier  than  I  will  make  it  con 
spicuous  —  that  the  really  decisive  battle  of  that  campaign  was  fought  by 
Warren  and  the  Fifth  Corps,  with  its  three  divisions  and  its  five  batteries, 
at  the  White  Oak  Road ;  and  that  Five  Forks,  the  next  day,  was  simply  a 
general  rout  of  the  enemy  which  the  battle  of  the  preceding  day  made 
possible.  Personally  I  take  much  pride  in  these  battles  of  March  29,  30 
and  31,  because  they  were  fought  by  the  Fifth  Corps  alone,  without  support 
from  any  other  troops,  with  no  cavalry,  under  the  most  difficult  and  trying 
conditions  of  weather  and  ground,  and  against  an  enemy  most  of  the  time 
quite  equal  in  numbers  and  vastly  superior  in  position  and  local  circum 
stances.  The  force  of  these  observations  will  be  felt  when  I  say  that  the 
total  losses  of  the  Fifth  Corps  in  the  Appomattox  campaign  were  2,600,  and 
they  were  divided  between  days  as  follows  : 

Gravelly  Run,  March  29 338 

Boydton  Road,  March  30 182 

White  Oak  Road,  March  31 1,460 

Five  Forks,  April  1 630 


Total 2,600 

So  it  will  be  seen  that  nearly  three-fifths  of  the  entire  losses  of  the  corps 
in  the  whole  campaign  were  suffered  at  the  White  Oak  Road.  The  Con 
federate  force  encountered  by  the  Fifth  Corps  on  the  31st  of  March  con 
sisted,  according  to  their  own  accounts,  of  the  five  brigades  of  McGowan, 
Gracie,  Hunton,  Wise  and  Ransom,  with  Munford's  cavalry  command, 
though  the  latter  does  not  appear  to  have  exercised  much  influence  on  the 
fortunes  of  the  combat. 

The  total  Confederate  force  in  action  at  the  White  Oak  Road  was  very 


346  THE  CANNONEER. 

nearly  10,000  as  against  about  13,000  effective  of  the  Fifth  Corps.  But  as 
we  were  on  the  offensive,  in  woods  or  against  slight  earthworks  most  of  the 
time,  this  slight  disparity  of  numbers' was  more  than  equalized.  However, 
it  is  necessary  in  delineating  these  movements  to  say  that  Miles's  Division, 
of  the  Second  Corps,  was  operating  on  our  right,  and  assaulted  the  Rebel 
works  near  Burgess's  Mill  with  success,  which,  without  doubt,  facilitated 
Warren's  victory  at  the  White  Oak  Road  proper.  Gen.  Sheridan  had  noth 
ing  whatever  to  do  with  these  operations,  the  movements  of  the  Fifth  Corps 
being  up  to  this  time  directed  exclusively  by  Warren,  acting  under  the 
orders  of  Gen.  Meade.  Comparing  the  two  engagements  of  the  White  Oak 
Road,  March  31,  and  Five  Forks,  April  1,  we  find  that  about  the  same 
numerical  strength  of  Confederates  was  engaged  in  each  fight,  say,  from 
10,000  to  11,000  in  round  numbers.  The  Union  force  at  White  Oak  was 
the  13,000  men  of  the  Fifth  Corps.  At  Five  Forks  it  was  the  11,000-odd 
remaining  of  that  corps,  with  about  the  same  number  of  Sheridan's  cavalry, 
or  something  more  than  20,000  strong. 

The  battle  of  White  Oak  began  about  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  be 
tween  forces  nearly  equal,  was  desperately  contested,  with  varying  for 
tunes,  till  dark,  about  five  hours,  and  resulted  in  cutting  off  the  right  flank 
of  Lee's  army  from  its  main  body.  The  battle  of  Five  Forks  began  after 
4  p.  m.,  was  a  total  rout  of  the  enemy  from  start  to  finish,  and  was  over  by 
7  o'clock.  Hence  I  say  that  the  stubbornly-contested  and  dearly-bought 
victory  of  the  White  Oak  Road,  March  31,  made  the  total  rout  and  magnifi 
cent  triumph  of  the  next  day  at  Five  Forks  possible  !  And  yet  its  name  is 
hardly  known  in  history  as  thus  far  written. 

As  soon  as  the  enemy  had  been  driven  behind  the  White  Oak  Road, 
Bartlett,  about  dark,  was  pushed  out  to  our  left  across  the  country  some 
two-and-a-half  or  three  miles  in  the  general  direction  of  Five  Forks,  Maj. 
Cope  again  accompanying  him.  About  10  o'clock  at  night  Bartlett  per 
ceived  that  he  had  overlapped  the  rear  of  a  force  of  the  enemy's  cavalry, 
whose  campfires  could  be  seen  on  a  small  wooded  ridge  just  across  a  little 
branch,  in  which  the  Rebel  cavalrymen  were  at  that  moment  watering  their 
horses.  Satisfied  that  the  presence  of  his  brigade  had  not  been  detected, 
Bartlett  instantly  began  dispositions  as  noiselessly  as  possible  to  surprise 
this  force;  but  just  as  the  whispered  order — "Forward!  Be  careful!" 
was  creeping  along  the  line  an  order  came  from  Gen.  Meade  to  withdraw 
the  brigade  and  rejoin  the  rest  of  the  division  in  its  bivouacs.  Bartlett 
always  said  that  if  Meade  had  let  him  alone  he  would  have  stove  that  Rebel 
cavalry  command  to  pieces  in  half  an  hour.  It  afterward  proved  to  be 
M  milord's  Brigade.  Upon  comparing  notes  after  the  surrender  it  was 
found  that  the  enemy  at  the  time  Bartlett  was  preparing  to  attack  him  was 
totally  unconscious  of  his  presence,  and  did  not  dream  that  there  was  a  bri 
gade  of  veteran  infantry  2,000  strong  within  rifle  shot  of  his  bivouac.  The 
Rebels  freely  admitted  that  such  an  attack  as  Bartlett  proposed  would  have 
thrown  them  into  hopeless  and  helpless  confusion,  and  must  have  resulted 
in  the  capture  or  dispersion  of  the  command. 


SHKRIDAN  EXPLAINS  His  PLAN. 


347 


Leaving  all  the  batteries  in  the  position  occupied  during  the  night  of 
the  31st,  the  infantry  of  Crawford's  Division,  followed  by  Ayres's  and  Grit- 
tin's,  moved  long  before  daylight  on  April  1  from  their  muddy  bivouacs 
along  the  White  Oak  Road  and  took  a  beeliue  across  the  fields  and  through 
the  woods  toward  Boisseau's  Crossroads,  a  distance  of  about  five  miles, 
wrhere  the  head  of  the  column  arrived  about  7  o'clock  and  found  there 
the  three  divisions  of  the  Cavalry  Corps,  with  which  Gen.  Sheridan  was 
present.  Sheridan  made  some  inquiries  about  the  positions  of  the  other 
divisions  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  and  informed  Griffin  that  as  soon  as  the  Fifth 
Corps  was  all  up  and  the  men  rested  a  little  he  proposed  to  put  him  and 
Crawford  in  on  the  left  flank  of  the  enemy's  works,  across  the  White  Oak 

Road,  to  turn  that  flank  and 
take  them  in  reverse,  while 
he  wrould  attack  in  front  with 
Ayres's  Division,  and  the  dis 
mounted  cavalry  Avould  dem 
onstrate  heavily  in  their  front 
Gen.  Sheridan's  explanation 
of  his  plan  and  description  of 
the  ground  was  very  clear  and 
precise.  In  the  meantime 
Crawford's  Division  came  up 
on  our  right  front  and  massed 
in  the  fields  east  of  Boisseau's 
House,  and  Ayres's  men  could 
be  seen  massing  in  column  on 
the  west  side  of  the  road  to 
our  left.  Gen.  Warren  was 
on  the  ground  at  this  time, 
and  the  five  Generals  —  Sher- 
iden,  Warren,  Ay  res,  Griffin 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  WAR. 


and   Crawford  —  each  made 


little  diagrams  of  the  roads  and  the  ground  involved  in  the  proposed  move 
ment.  This  was  all  done  before  1  o'clock,  by  which  time  the  troops  were 
all  up  and  massed  in  column  of  brigades  in  their  designated  positions. 
They  were  now  ordered  to  stack  arms  and  rest  themselves  a  little. 
After  this  conference  Gen.  Sheridan  rode  over  to  the  left  where  the  dis 
mounted  cavalry  was.  The  distance  from  where  the  Fifth  Corps  was 
halted  to  the  enemy's  intrenchments  along  the  White  Oak  Road  was  about 
one  and  one-half  or  two  miles.  It  must  have  been  3:30  in  the  afternoon 
when  Crawford's  Division  began  to  move  toward  the  White  Oak  Road. 
Our  Division  (Griffin's)  moved  about  4  o'clock,  Gregory's  Brigade  leading. 
As  the  question  of  time  involved  in  the  dispositions  of  the  Fifth  Corps 
at  Five  Forks  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  unfortunate  —  and,  as 
every  one  in  that  corps  thought,  unnecessary  —  controversy  between  Gens. 
Warren  and  Sheridan,  it  is  proper  at  this  point  to  review  briefly  the  cir- 


348  THE   CANNONEER. 

cumstances  of  the  march  and  the  condition  of  the  troops  on  the  morning 
of  April  1.  The  distance  marched  by  each  of  the  three  divisions  was 
about  alike,  Crawford  having  slightly  the  longest  route.  On  an  average  it 
was  between  four  and  five  miles.  The  line  of  march  was  across  country 
and  much  of  the  way  in  broken  ground  formed  by  the  headwaters  of  Grav 
elly  Run,  entirely  impracticable  for  artillery  and  very  difficult  even  for 
infantry.  The  work  of  the  troops  up  to  that  time  had  been  incessant  since 
midnight,  March  28.  Between  that  time  and  4  o'clock  p.  m.  the  29th 
they  had  marched  from  the  Petersburg  lines  by  roundabout  roads  to  the 
steam  sawmill  clearing  on  the  Quaker  Road,  north  of  Gravelly  Run,  cross 
ing  that  stream  twice.  Between  4  o'clock  and  dark  they  had  fought  the 
battle  of  Gravelly  Run.  From,  say,  10  p.  m.  the  29th  to  3  a.  m.  the  30th 
they  had  got  such  rest  as  beds  in  soft  mud  and  under  a  cold,  pouring  rain 
might  afford.  From  3  a.  in.  to  3  p.  m.  tlie  30th  they  were  marching  to 
ward  the  Boydton  Plank  Road  junction,  manuvering  a  good  deal  and  skir 
mishing  ;  and  between  3  p.  in.  and  dark  they  had  fought  what  is  known 
as  the  battle  of  the  Boydton  Road.  The  night  of  the  30th  was  a  repetition 
•of  the  29th.  Perhaps  six  hours  were  spent  in  cooking  coffee  and  sleeping. 
They  were  turned  out  at  3  a.  m.  the  31st  and  moved  toward  the  White 
Oak  Road.  From  10  o'clock  till  dark  they  were  engaged  in  the  battle  of 
the  White  Oak  Road,  which  was  heavy  enough  to  involve  all  three  divis 
ions,  lasting  till  after  dark  and  causing  severe  loss.  The  movement  was 
continued  till  after  9  p.  m.,  and  they  were  turned  out  on  the  morning  of 
April  1  for  the  advance  to  Five  Forks  as  early  as  2  a.  m.  Therefore,  from 
midnight  March  28  to  2  a.  m.  April  1  was  98  hours,  during  which  not 
to  exceed  18  had  been  devoted  to  rest  or  refreshment,  while  80  hours  had 
been  spent  in  the  most  toilsome  and  distressing  marches  in  mud  and  rain, 
by  night  and  by  day,  and  in  fighting  three  battles,  of  which  the  combined 
casualties  had  been  about  2,000  out  of  a  corps  numbering  about  13,000. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  wonder  is  not  that  they  should  have  re 
quired  some  time  to  make  the  march  to  Five  Forks  and  effect  the  disposi 
tions  for  that  attack,  but  that  they  should  have  been  able  to  move  at  all. 
These  statements  are  offered  simply  as  facts,  known  to  every  one  who  was 
there  in  the  Fifth  Corps.  They  carry  their  own  comment. 

In  explaining  his  plan  to  the  corps  and  division  commanders  Gen. 
Sheridan  said  that  he  had  not  closely  reconnoitered  the  Rebel  position,  for 
fear  of  disclosing  our  presence  in  force,  which  they  would  readily  infer 
from  a  close  reconnoissance.  However,  he  said  that  he  was  satisfied  that 
their  intrenchments  along  the  White  Oak  Road  extended  about  1,000  yards 
east  of  Five  Forks,  or  near  to  the  junction  of  the  Church  Road,  and  so,  if 
Ayres  would  move  straight  to  his  front  he  would  strike  their  line  right  in 
the  face,  and  if  Crawford  Avould  move,  guiding  on  Ayres's  right,  he  would 
strike  about  at  the  angle  of  their  ' '  return, ' '  or  where  their  line  was  ' '  re 
fused  "  to  the  left  on  the  White  Oak  Road.  In  the  meantime  he  (Sheri 
dan)  would  put  the  cavalry  (dismounted)  in  on  both  sides  of  the  Din- 
widdie  Road  and  push  them  close  up  to  the  front  of  the  Rebel  works  as  a 


STRENGTH  OF  THE  FIFTH  CORPS.  349 

demonstration,  but  that  the  real  work  must  be  done  by  the  "strong  arm 
of  the  service  "  (I  use  his  exact  expression),  the  infantry.  I  remember  his 
saying  to  Griffin  just  before  he  left  us  to  ride  over  toward  the  cavalry  : 
' '  Now,  advance  your  division  carefully,  and  be  ready  to  support  either 
Ayres  or  Crawford  with  all  your  troops  or  with  one  or  more  of  your  bri 
gades,  as  your  judgment  may  dictate.  My  idea  is  that  Crawford  will  strike 
the  angle  of  their  '  return  intrenchinent, '  and  in  that  case  he  will  need  the 
support,  as  it  is  my  purpose  to  turn  their  left  flank,  and  not  only  that,  but, 
if  we  run  over  their  works,  to  sweep  along  their  line  in  reverse  on  the  White 
Oak  Road,"  etc.,  and  I  also  recollect  thinking  it  very  queer  that  Gen.  Sheri 
dan  should  be  giving  directions  or  making  suggestions  in  person  to  a  di 
vision  commander  of  the  Fifth  Corps  when  Gen.  Warren  was  present.  I 
will  not  undertake  to  say  whether  Gen.  Sheridan  miscalculated  the  length 
of  the  enemy's  intrenchments,  or  whether  Gen.  Crawford  obliqued  too  far  to 
his  right  in  advancing,  but  I  know  that  Crawford's  Division  slid  by  the  left 
flank  of  the  Rebel  works,  missing  them,  by  over  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and 
that  our  (Griffin's)  division,  following  Crawford,  did  the  same  thing,  while 
Ayres  with  his  little  division,  which  was  hardly  stronger  than  Bartlett's 
Brigade,  of  our  division,  struck  the  angle  of  the  Rebel  works. 

At  this  time  Ayres's  Division  was  as  follows  :  Winthrop's  Brigade, 
5th  New  York  veterans  (Duryea's  old  regiment),  15th  New  York  Heavy 
Artillery  and  140th  and  146th  New  York ;  the  Maryland  Brigade,  1st,  4th, 
7th  and  8th  Maryland,  and  Gwyn's  Brigade,  composed  of  the  3d,  4th  and 
6th  Delaware  consolidated  in  one  regiment,  and  remnants  of  four  Pennsyl 
vania  regiments  similarly  consolidated.  The  whole  division  did  not  have 
more  than  2, 000  or  2, 100  muskets.  Our  division  had  about  5, 000,  of  which 
Bartlett's  Brigade  formed  at  least  half,  the  other  two  brigades  of  Gregory 
and  Chamberlin  having  not  much  more  than  1,000  or  1,200  muskets  each, 
at  this  time.  But  Bartlett's  Brigade  consisted  of  the  remains  of  eight  regi 
ments — 20th  Maine,  1st  and  16th  Michigan,  32d  Massachusetts  and  83d, 
91st,  118th  and  155th  Pennsylvania,  with  the  1st  Maine  Sharpshooters  at 
tached.  Crawford  had  three  brigades.  The  First  was  Kellogg's,  made  up 
of  the  surviving  remnants  of  the  old  Iron  Brigade,  the  6th  and  7th  Wis 
consin,  together  with  the  91st  New  York  ;  the  Second  was  Baxter's,  16th 
Maine,  39th  Massachusetts,  97th  New  York  and  what  was  left  of  the  llth 
Pennsylvania  veterans  and  the  107th  Pennsylvania  ;  the  Third  was  com 
posed  of  the  94th,  95th  and  147th  New  York,  four  companies  each,  the  56th 
and  88th  Pennsylvania  consolidated,  and  the  121st  and  142d  Pennsylvania 
consolidated,  and  was  commanded  by  Col.  Richard  Coulter,  commonly 
called  by  the  men  "Big  Dick."  In  this  shape  the  immortal  old  fighting 
Fifth  Corps  squared  off  for  its  last  battle  !  Gen.  Griffin  said  that  the  Fifth 
Corps  had  9,200  muskets  after  the  battle  of  Five  Forks,  of  which  his  di 
vision  numbered  about  half.  As  the  losses  were  634  in  the  battle  the  corps 
was  doubtless  about  10,400  strong,  officers  and  all,  when  we  went  in. 

Advancing  according  to  Gen.  Sheridan's  program,  Crawford  crossed 
the  White  Oak  Road  east  of  the  enemy's  intrenchment,  and  kept  on  in  the 


350 


THE  CAXXOXEER. 


DlAGKAM  OF  FIVE  FOKKS. 


AYRES  STRIKES  THE  ENEMY. 


351 


woods,  Griffin  following,  until  our  division  had  got  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  north  of  the  White  Oak  Road.  Crawford  marched  more  rapidly  than 
we  did,  because  Griffin,  having  been  ordered  by  Sheridan  to  hold  himself 
in  readiness  to  support  either  Crawford  or  Ayres,  as  occasion  might  require, 
kept  holding  his  head  of  column  to  see  what  might  happen.  Following 
Gen.  Griffin  through  the  woods,  I  could  see  that  he  was  in  doubt  and 
much  disturbed  in  his  mind,  because,  according  to  program,  Crawford 
should  have  struck  the  Rebel  angle  at  the  "White  Oak  Road,  whereas  both 
divisions  had  now  crossed  that  road.  He  slowed  the  march  of  his  column 
and  sent  an  Aid  up  to  Gen.  Gregory  to  tell  him  to  halt  his  brigade,  which 
was  leading,  and  to  wheel  on  his  left  as  a  pivot  out  into  the  Sydney  Farin> 
and,  if  the  enemy  was  there,  to  attack  them.  At  this  moment  Gen.  Griffin 
was  with  one  of  the  brigade  commanders,  either  Bartlett  or  Chamber 
lain,  and  as  the  division  halted  he  started  to  say  something.  He  had  just 
begun  his  sentence  when  blizzard  after  blizzard  of  musketry  sounded  close 
in  our  left  rear ! 

Listening  a  moment,  Griffin  said:  "Ayres  has  struck  their  works! 
We  have  passed  their  flank  ! " 

By  this  time  the  head  of  the  column  of  Chamberlain's  Brigade  had 
come  up,  and  Griffin  halted  it.  At  the  same  moment  an  officer  —  I  think 
it  was  Col.  Newhall,  of  Sheridan's  staff — reached  Griffin  with  Gen.  Sheri 
dan's  compliments  and  inquired  where  Crawford  was,  which  Griffin  was 
unable  to  tell  him.  Gen  Griffin  and  this  officer  rode  out  to  the  edge  of 
the  clearing  of  the  Sydney  Farm,  where  the  whole  situation  flashed  upon 
them.  During  this  time  several  staff  officers  from  Sheridan  —  Col.  Mike 
among  them  —  got  to  Griffin  with  the  news  that  Ayres  had  struck  the 
Rebel  works,  had  been  checked,  and  was  reforming  his  division  for  another 
assault ;  that  our  division  was  already  across  the  enemy's  rear,  and  for  the 

sake  of ,  as  Col.  Mike  put  it,  with  more  eloquence  than  elegance, 

to  wheel  the  division  into  the  clearing  and   "give  it  to  'em."     Parson 

Gregory  was  already  out  in  the  Sydney  Clearing,  and  had  struck  a  line  of 

LEGEND  OF  DIAGRAM. 


A— Ayres,  first  position. 

C— Crawford,  first  position. 

G— Griffin,  first  position. 

AS— Ayres  striking  Rebel  works. 

C2— Crawford  reaching  Ford  Road. 

G2— Griffin  halting  in  the  woods. 

C3— Crawford,  final  position  at 
dark. 

ch  and  ch3 — Chamberlain  going  to 
connect  with  Ayres. 

b  and  g— Bartlett  and  Gregory 
wheeling  into  Sydney  Clearing. 

b2  and  g2— Bartlett  and  Gregory 
breaking  the  Rebel  line. 

ch3 — Chamberlain,  final  position. 

b3  and  g3— Final  positions  of  Bart 
lett  and  Gregory. 


D  D  D — Our  dismounted  cavalry 
skirmishing  and  demonstrating  in  the 
enemy's  front. 

M— Mackenzie's  Cavalry  Brigade, 
first  position. 

M2— Mackenzie's  Cavalry  Brigade, 
second  position. 

R.  C— Rebel  cavalry  which  Crawford 
brushed  out  of  his  way. 

r— Rebel  battery  in  the  return  of 
their  works. 

r% — Rebel  battery  when  captured. 

S— Approximate  point  where  Sheri 
dan  explained  his  plan. 

P— Dotted  line  showing  what  Sheri 
dan  evidently  thought  was  the  extent 
of  the  Rebel  works. 


352  THE  CANNONEER. 

slight  breastworks  that  the  enemy  had  thrown  up  there  to  protect  his  left 
rear,  and  his  brigade  had  been  checked.  Then  Gen.  Griffin,  as  soon  as  he 
saw  this  situation,  ordered  Chamberlain,  who  was  already  wheeling  to  the 
left,  to  take  the  return  of  the  enemy's  work  in  reverse  and  connect  with 
Ayres's  right,  as  it  was  now  plain  that  we  were  obliquely  in  rear  of  their 
works,  and  that,  by  quickly  connecting  with  Ayres,  who  was  attacking 
them  in  front  and  on  their  left  flank,  we  could  "shut  up  on  them  like  a 
jackknife."  Chamberlain,  however,  saw  the  situation  as  well  as  Griffin 
did  and  was  in  motion  already.  Gregory's  Brigade  appeared  to  have  been 
slightly  checked  by  the  first  fire  they  received,  and  as  Bartlett's  larger 
brigade  was  wheeling  in  two  lines  of  battle  on  difficult  ground  it  was  nec 
essary  for  it  to  move  deliberately  in  order  to  avoid  dislocation.  Therefore 
two  couriers — Hyatt  and  myself — were  sent  to  Gregory  with  the  message 
to  hold  the  ground  until  Bartlett  could  reach  him.  Trying  to  reach  Gregory 
by  a  short  cut  across  the  enemy's  right  front,  not  more  than  200  yards  from 
his  skirmishers,  Hyatt's  horse  was  shot  under  him,  so  that  he  had  to  go 
back  to  headquarters  on  foot,  lugging  his  saddle.  Meantime  I  got  to  Gen. 
Gregory,  who  was  at  that  moment  riding  along  the  line  of  the  188th  New 
York,  and  delivered  the  message.  It  was  not  necessary,  however,  as  he  was 
doing  the  same  thing  of  his  own  motion  —  waiting  to  attack  in  concert  with 
Bartlett.  As  soon  as  the  Parson  saw  Bartlett's  front  line  emerge  from  the 
woods  he  ordered  his  brigade  forward  again. 

Bartlett  had  a  huge  fellow  posted  as  "marker"  on  the  objective  flank 
of  his  first  line,  and  he  stood  there  with  the  butt  of  his  musket  up  in  the  air 
just  as  if  this  was  a  review,  while  the  General  himself  kept  in  front  of  the 
wheeling  flank,  his  horse  curvetting  in  fine  style  and  he  marking  time  with 
his  saber.  But  you  must  bear  in  mind  that  all  this  was  being  done  under 
musketry  fire  at  a  range  not  exceeding  280  or  300  yards  from  two  brigades 
of  the  enemy  who  occupied  the  reverse  works  of  their  line.  I  wish  I  had 
the  power  to  put  on  canvas  the  picture  that  my  memory  holds  of  Gen. 
Joseph  J.  Bartlett  as  he  wheeled  his  old  brigade  into  the  Sydney  Farm  at 
Five  Forks,  and  squared  it  for  its  50th  battle,  its  last  charge  and  its  final  vic 
tory.  Having  wheeled  about  they  squared  up  their  formation,  and  then  it 
was,  "Forward,  right  oblique"  (as  they  had  to  take  ground  to  the  right), 
and  then  ' '  Quick,  march  ! "  "  Double  quick  !  !  "  and  * '  Charge  ! ! !  "  And 
with  the  last  order  Bartlett  spurred  to  the  right  of  his  line,  swung  his  saber 
and  shouted  "Come  on,  now,  boys,  for  God's  sake ! ! "  At  this  I  forgot 
all  about  my  duties  to  Gen.  Griffin  and,  being  seized  with  uncontrollable 
enthusiasm,  spurred  my  little  mare  along  after  Bartlett's  big  dapple-bay 
horse,  regardless  and  oblivious  of  everything  except  the  row  that  was  on 
hand.  I  never  knew  an  officer  who  had  such  power  to  inspire  men  in 
action  or  as  much  magnetism  of  personal  presence  as  Gen.  Bartlett  had. 
I  knew  that  nothing  could  stop  that  old  brigade  then.  Meantime  the 
Fighting  Parson  (Gregory)  and  his  little  brigade,  which  had  only  men 
enough  for  a  single  line  of  battle,  were  ready,  and  when  Bartlett's  con 
nected  with  them  the  two  went  over  and  over  and  through  and  through 


BEGINNING  OF  THE  END.  353 

the  Rebel  reverse  works  like  a  cyclone  through  a  Kansas  village  !  "Well, 
the  wreck  of  the  two  Rebel  brigades  which  were  in  those  works — some  of 
Bushrod  Johnson's  Division  —  was  indescribable.  I  had  seen  the  Rebels 
driven  many  times,  but  never  saw  them  "quit  and  throw  up  the  sponge" 
as  they  did  here  at  Five  Forks  !  !  Ordinarily  they  would  either  run  or  re 
tire  in  some  kind  of  order,  but  here  they  simply  threw  down  their  muskets, 
threw  up  their  hands  and  quit ! 

Then,  for  the  first  time,  as  I  jumped  my  mare  over  their  poor  little 
breastwork  of  rails  and  brush,  following  Bartlett,  I  began  to  realize  that  the 
end  was  nigh  and  that  peace  was  at  hand.  Somehow  I  felt  sorry  for  them. 
I  could  not  help  it.  Of  course  I  knew  they  were  in  the  wrong,  and  that 
their  rebellion  against  the  Government  and  attempt  to  divide  the  Union 
was  a  crime ;  but  they  had  fought  so  gallantly  and  suffered  so  gamely  that 
I  couldn't  help  feeling  sorry  for  them  in  this  poor  little  "last  ditch"  of 
theirs  at  Five  Forks,  when  Joe  Bartlett  and  Parson  Gregory  overwhelmed 
them  for  the  last  time  and  for  eternity.  From  this  time  on  it  was  a  sort  of 
walking  match  —  "go  as  you  please."  The  impetus  of  the  charge  had  to 
some  extent  disordered  Bartlett's  and  Gregory's  Brigades,  and  they  were 
all  mixed  up  with  the  routed  and  surrendering  Rebels  ;  but  the  whole  mass 
kept  on  down  towrard  the  White  Oak  Road,  which,  generally  speaking,  was 
500  or  600  yards  from  the  reverse  works  just  stormed.  Arriving  at  the 
White  Oak  Road,  and  .taking  the  enemy's  main  line  in  rear,  there  was  a 
literal  pandemonium.  Here  we  found  the  remnants  of  Pickett's  Division 
in  a  state  of  wreck  that  beggars  language  to  describe.  Ayres  had  stormed 
their  works  in  front,  Chamberlain  had  taken  their  return  intrenchnient  ins 
rear  and  reverse,  while  our  dismounted  cavalry,  vieing  with  their  infantry 
comrades,  had  scaled  the  breastworks  in  their  front  near  the  Forks,  and 
it  was  hard  to  tell  which  was  in  the  greatest  disorder,  our  folks  or  the 
Rebels,  though  it  was  easy  to  see  which  had  whipped. 

At  this  moment  Gen.  Griffin,  with  some  of  his  staff,  was  riding  up  to 
the  road,  and  I  at  once  joined  him.  Gen.  Griffin  asked  if  I  had  seen  Gen. 
Gregory.  I  said,  ' '  Yes,  sir  ;  he  is  over  there  to  the  right, ' '  (pointing  along 
the  White  Oak  Road  to  the  westward.)  Then  he  dictated  a  message,  which 
I  carried  —  but  do  not  exactly  remember  its  contents.  When  I  returned 
Gen.  Griffin  was  surrounded  by  officers  congratulating  him,  and  I  soon 
learned  that  Gen.  Warren  had  been  relieved  and  that  my  General  now  com 
manded  the  Fifth  Corps.  By  this  time  it  was  getting  dark.  Gen.  Gregory 
on  this  occasion  had  just  halted  his  brigade  a  short  distance  east  of  the  Ford 
Road,  which  is  the  one  running  north  from  Five  Forks.  He  had  about  400 
or  450  prisoners  and  three  captured  guns,  and  his  men,  in  the  excitement 
of  an  overwhelming  charge  and  the  flush  of  a  tremendous  victory,  were  in 
much  confusion,  and  he  was  riding  all  among  them  to  rally  and  reform 
them,  the  approaching  darkness  intensifying  the  confusion.  He  shouted, 
entreated  and  appealed  for  order  and  steadiness  and  told  his  men  that  any^ 
one  looking  at  their  actions  would  think  they  had  been  routed  themselves 
instead  of  routing  the  enemy.  He  used  about  as  vigorous  language  as  you 
23 


354 


THE  CANNOXEER. 


could  reasonably  expect  to  hear  from  a  Parson,  and  perhaps  if  it  had  been 
Griffin  or  Bartlett  or  Ayres  talking,  it  would  have  been  called  a  mild  form 
of  profanity — mild  for  them,  at  least.  But  it  must  be  said  that  the  Parson 
didn't  utter  any  good  square  oaths,  though  he  got  pretty  close  to  the  edge. 
Gen.  Sheridan's  order  notifying  Gen.  Griffin  of  his  promotion  to  com 
mand  the  Fifth  Corps  was  brought  by  Capt.Yauderbilt  Allen,  of  Sheridan's 
staff,  who  found  Griffin  in  the  White  Oak  Eoad  a  few  hundred  yards  west 
of  the  "return  intrenchment "  of  the  Rebel  line,  which  Chamberlain's  Bri 
gade  had  carried  ;  in  fact,  Griffin  was  at  that  time  with  Chamberlain's  Bri 
gade,  I  think.  When  I  got  back  to  Griffin  from  Gregory,  as  before  men 
tioned,  he  motioned  me  to  approach,  and  I  delivered  my  message,  which 
was  to  the  effect  that  Gen.  Gregory  had  halted  and  would  form  his  brigade 
fronting  the  line  of  the  Ford  Road  until  further  orders  ;  also,  that  he  had 
some  400  prisoners,  and  that,  according  to  all  appearances,  the  enemy  had 
ceased  to  maintain  any  sort  of  organization  in  his  front  or  to  his  right. 
Gen.  Griffin  was  just  begin 
ning  to  dictate  a  reply  to 
this  message  from  Gen. 
Gregory  when  Col.  Mike 
Sheridan  rode  up,  and  they 
had  a  few  moments'  conver 
sation,  of  which  I  did  not 
hear  much,  except  that  Col. 
Sheridan  conveyed  the  per 
sonal  compliments  of  his 
brother,  the  General,  and 
congratulated  him  (Griffin) 
on  his  accession  to  the  com 
mand  of  the  corps.  After 
this  Gen.  Griffin  sent  a  mes 
sage  to  Gen.  Gregory  that 
his  dispositions  were  ap 
proved  and  would  be  main 
tained  for  the  night,  it 
being  then  quite  dark ;  in 
fact  it  was  then  about  8 
o'clock  p.  ni.  I  had  diffi 
culty  in  getting  along  the 
White  Oak  Road,  which  was 
literally  jammed  with  Rebel 
prisoners  and  the  wreck  of 
their  material  all  the  way 
from  the  return  intrench 
ment  to  the  Forks,  there  CHARLES  GRIFFIN. 
being,  I  suppose,  as  many  as  2,500  prisoners  in  the  road  and  in  the  fields 
on  both  sides  of  it  in  a  space  of  one  mile.  There  were  also  numbers  of 


A  NOTE  TO  GEX.  HUMPHREYS.  355 

.Rebel  wounded  who  had  been  hit  when  our  troops  were  assaulting  their 
works,  and  some  of  our  wounded  who  had  been  hit  close  up  to  the  works 
were  also  brought  into  this  space,  on  account  of  its  being  higher  ground , 
and,  therefore,  dryer  than  the  low  ground  outside  of  the  wwks.  But  there 
was  no  shelter  for  either  our  wounded  or  the  Rebels,  and  they  all  had  to 
lie  side  by  side  all  night,  while  such  medical  attendance  as  was  possible 
was  impartially  given  by  our  Surgeons.  It  was  evident  that  the  force 
which  had  held  these  lines  was  totally  annihilated.  The  wounded  and 
captured  Rebels  told  us  that  the  troops  who  had  fought  here  were  Pickett's 
and  Bushrod  Johnson's  Divisions.  We  had  thought  that  we  were  dealing 
with  Longstreet's  whole  corps,  but  they  told  us  that  Field's  Division  had 
not  been  engaged,  and  was,  in  fact,  at  that  time  still  in  the  works  of  Peters 
burg.  I  do  not  know  where  Gen.  Warren  was  at  this  time,  but  think  he 
was  with  Crawford's  Division  when  Sheridan's  order  reached  him.  I  only 
know  that  he  was  not  with  our  division,  and  we  did  not  see  him  again. 
After  notifying  his  division  commanders  of  the  situation,  Gen.  Griffin 
desired  to  communicate  privately  with  Gen.  Humphreys,  then  commanding 
the  Second  Corps.  Handing  me  a  dispatch,  he  said  I  must  find  my  way  to 
Gen.  Humphreys  right  away. 

"  Do  you  think  you  can  find  your  way  ?  "  he  said,  good  naturedly. 

"Yes,  sir,  if  you  will  tell  me  where  he  is,  General." 

Then  he  told  me  that  I  would  find  Gen.  Humphreys  somewhere  near 
Armstrong's  Mill.  "This  is  your  route,"  he  said.  "Take  the  Church 
Road  (we  were  then  on  the  White  Oak  Road,  half  a  mile  west  of  the 
Church  Road  junction),  follow  it  till  you  strike  the  Dabney  Road,  which 
will  take  you  a  left  turn  ;  then  follow  the  Dabney  Road  till  you  strike  the 
Boydton  Road.  This  you  will  know  when  you  strike  it,  because  you  have 
fought  over  it,  and  it  is  the  widest  road  in  these  parts.  Then  follow  the 
Boydton  Plank  till  you  reach  the  Quaker  Road  junction,  which  you  will 
know,  because  you  were  in  the  Battery  near  there  when  your  Lieutenant, 
Mitchell,  was  hit.  By  this  time  you  ought  to  meet  pickets  or  patrols  of 
the  Second  Corps.  If  you  do,  you  will  simply  give  the  countersign  and 
ask  to  be  conducted  to  Gen.  Humphreys  ;  but  if  you  do  not  encounter  our 
troops  at  the  Quaker  and  Boydton  junction,  you  will  halt  there  till  day 
light,  and  then  make  the  best  of  your  way  to  Gen.  Humphreys,  who  ought 
to  l)e  somewhere  between  Armstrong's  Mill  and  the  Crow  House  by  that 
time." 

So  I  mounted  ::ny  mare  and,  about  8:30  p.  m.,  started  on  a  nine-mile 
ride.  I  knew  enough  of  the  relative  positions  of  the  two  armies  to  know 
that  I  could  not  possibly  encounter  any  danger,  except  from  our  own  pickets 
or  patrols,  until  I  should  arrive  at  the  junction  of  the  Quaker  and  Boydton 
Roads,  and  knew  the  country  well  enough  to  be  perfectly  sure  of  my  ground 
till  I  reached  that  point.  The  distance  was  not  more  than  six  miles  in  an 
airline,  but  by  the  roads  inside  of  our  assured  lines  it  was  at  least  nine 
miles,  and  two-thirds  of  the  way  through  the  woods,  the  night  dark  and 
cloudy,  with  some  rain.  I  encountered  nothing  more  formidable  than 


356  THE  CANNONEER. 

camp  guards  and  a  few  stragglers  until  I  came  to  the  Boydton  and  Quaker 
Koad  junction,  where  I  found  an  infantry  picket  of  the  Second  Corps.  This 
was  about  10  p.  m. ;  but,  as  good  luck  would  have  it,  they  were  a  detach 
ment  of  the  36th  Wisconsin,  some  of  whom  I  knew  personally,  and  I  was 
at  once  piloted  across  the  fields  in  the  immediate  rear  of  the  intrenched 
position  of  the  Second  Corps  to  Gen.  Humphreys,  whereby  I  saved  two  or 
three  miles'  travel  by  the  roads.  Delivering  nay  message  to  Gen.  Hum 
phreys,  who  was  just  preparing  to  "turn  in,"  that  officer  asked  me  several 
questions  about  the  conditions  of  the  roads,  the  positions  of  the  Fifth  Corps 
and  other  troops  on  the  White  Oak  Road,  etc.,  and  particularly  about  the 
battle  of  Five  Forks  that  day.  He  then  called  his  colored  servant  and  told 
him  to  give  me  forage  for  my  horse  and  coffee  for  myself.  Gen.  Humphreys 
was  a  very  nice,  pleasant-mannered  man,  as  well  as  a  most  accomplished 
officer.  He  proceeded  to  write  a  brief  note  to  Gen.  Griffin,  and  hearing 
him  call  up  one  of  his  couriers  and  begin  to  tell  him  how  to  reach  Griffin's 
headquarters  I  stepped  toward  him,  with  my  tincup  in  one  hand  and  a 
hardtack  in  the  other,  and  said  :  "  Beg  pardon,  General ;  but  I  can  carry 
any  dispatch  you  may  want  to  send  to  Gen.  Griffin." 

"Do  you  expect  to  return  to-night?"  asked  the  General,  elevating  his 
eyebrows. 

"Certainly,  sir.     I  had  no  orders  to  do  anything  else." 

So  Gen.  Humphreys  sent  his  own  courier  back  to  his  bivouac  and 
handed  me  the  message  to  Gen.  Griffin. 

I  have  since  learned  on  reliable  authority  that  the  message  which  I 
carried  that  night  from  Griffin  to  Humphreys  was  an  unofficial  or  private 
one  as  between  gentlemen,  stating  the  circumstances  of  the  relief  of  Warren 
and  his  (Griffin's)  assignment  to  command  the  Fifth  Corps,  and  assuring 
him  (Humphreys)  that  he  (Griffin)  had  not  the  slightest  share  in  or  re 
sponsibility  for  the  transaction,  officially  or  personally  ;  that,  while  accept 
ing  the  command  and  striving  his  best  to  accomplish  results,  he  regretted 
keenly  that  such  action  should  have  been  deemed  proper,  and  that,  under 
the  circumstances,  he  assumed  command  of  the  Fifth  Corps  with  sadness. 
This  was  in  keeping  with  Gen.  Griffin's  character.  He  was  always  ex 
ceedingly  punctilious  in  his  relations  with  other  officers,  and  never  applied' 
for  any  command  or  promotion,  but  always  waited  patiently  for  such  things 
to  come  to  him  as  the  natural  reward  of  duty  well  done.  I  do  not  suppose 
that  he  feared  that  Gen.  Humphreys  would  misconstrue  his  attitude,  but 
as  Humphreys  had  long  been  Chief  of  Staff  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  his  opinions  were  held  in  great  respect  by  the  other  officers,  I  presume 
Gen.  Griffin  sent  that  note  as  a  mild  form  of  expressing  his  disapproval  of 
the  relief  of  Warren. 

As  soon  as  my  mare  had  finished  eating  the  small  ration  of  oats  wrhich 
Gen.  Humphreys's  servant  had  given  her  I  mounted,  and  about  midnight 
started  back  for  Five  Forks,  arriving  at  Griffin's  headquarters  on  the 
White  Oak  Road  about  3  a.  m.  It  took  me  half  an  hour  then  to  grooni  my 
mare,  and  as  the  headquarters  were  all  astir  by  5  o'clock  I  did  not  get  more 


GEN.  WARREN'S  REPORT.  357 

than  one  and  a  half  hour's  sleep  out  of  the  24,  of  which  22  had  been  passed 
in  the  saddle. 

The  wide  detour  made  by  Crawford's  Division  has  been  criticized  by 
many  writers  as  an  error,  and  the  work  done  by  Griffin  and  Ayres  was  so 
much  more  dramatic  and  exciting  that  the  share  of  Crawford's  men  in  the 
victory  of  Five  Forks  has  been  almost  entirely  ignored  in  history.  But 
Geu.  Warren,  who  was  personally  with  that  division  during  the  last  half  of 
the  battle,  says  in  his  report : 

I  came  up  with  Crawford's  Division  near  B.  Boisseau's  after  he  had  crossed 
the  Ford  Road.  He  had  been  driving  back  the, enemy's  skirmish  line  all  the 
way,  and  continually  turning  the  left  of  any  force  opposing  Gens.  Ayres  and 
Griffin.  I  at  once  directed  his  line  to  swing  round  to  face  southward,  as  we  had 
now  closed  up  the  outlet  for  the  enemy's  escape  northward,  and  to  move  down 
upon  the  position  of  the  enemy  at  the  forks  of  the  road,  a  point  well  indicated 
to  us  by  the  firing  of  some  pieces  of  artillery  there  by  the  enemy.  Gen. 
Crawford's  troops  soon  encountered  a  stiff  line  of  the  enemy  formed  to  meet 
him,  and  from  the  fire  of  which  Gen.  Coulter's  Brigade  suffered  severely.  The 
contest,  however,  was  short,  for  the  enemy,  now  pressed  front,  flank  and  rear, 
mostly  threw  down  their  arms.  Three  guns  of  the  captured  battery  were 
found  on  the  road,  where  they  had  been  stopped  in  their  attempt  to  escape 
northward.  Immediately  after  the  Forks  were  gained  I  directed  Gen.  Craw 
ford  to  change  front  again  to  the  right  and  march  toward  the  sound  of  the 
firing,  so  as  again  to  take  the  enemy  in  flank  and  rear,  and  this  he  at  once  did. 
I  also  directed  a  cavalry  brigade  which  had  been  kept  mounted,  and  which  now 
came  rapidly  along  the  Ford  Road,  not  to  move  along  it  farther,  but  to  file  to 
their  left  and  proceed  in  the  direction  Gen.  Crawford  had  taken.  I  then  passed 
down  the  Ford  Road  and,  on  reaching  the  Forks,  turned  to  the  right  along  the 
White  Oak  Road.  The  troops  were  joyous  and  filled  with  enthusiasm  at  their 
success,  but  somewhat  disorganized  thereby  and  by  their  marching  and  fight 
ing  so  long  in  the  woods.  On  my  arriving  at  a  point  farther  on  I  found  that 
our  advance  was  stayed  by  the  enemy,  who  had  formed  a  new  line  for  their 
left  flank,  while  yet  maintaining  their  front  against  our  cavalry  on  the  south, 
though  the  orders  had  been  not  to  halt,  and  many  officers  were  then  urging 
their  men  forward,  and  not  feeling  the  influence  of  their  commanders,  con 
tinued  to  fire  without  advancing.  Accompanied  by  Capt.  Benyaurd  and  the 
portion  of  my  staff  present  I  rode  out  to  the  front  and  called  those  near  me  to 
follow.  This  was  immediately  responded  to.  Everywhere  along  the  front  the 
color-bearers  and  officers  sprang  out,  and  without  more  firing  our  men  ad 
vanced,  capturing  all  the  enemy  remaining.  During  this  last  charge  my  horse 
was  fatally  shot  within  a  few  paces  of  the  line  where  the  enemy  made  his  last 
stand,  and  an  Orderly  by  my  side  was  killed  and  Col.  Richardson,  of  the  7th 
Wisconsin,  who  sprang  between  me  and  the  enemy,  severely  wounded.  I 
sent  Gen.  Bankhead,  after  the  last  of  the  enemy  had  been  captured,  to  Gen. 
Sheridan  to  report  the  result  and  receive  his  instructions.  He  returned  with 
the  reply  that  my  instructions  had  been  sent  to  me.  At  7  p.  m.  they  reached 
me,  and  were  as  follows  :  "Maj.-Gen.  Warren,  commanding  Fifth  Corps,  is  re 
lieved  from  duty,  and  will  report  at  once  for  orders  to  Lieut.-Gen.  Grant,  com 
manding  Armies  U.  S."  I  believe  there  never  was  a  previous  period  of  my  mil 
itary  life  when  the  operations  I  have  described  would  not  have  gained  the 
praise  of  my  superior. 

As  the  loss  of  Crawford's  Division  was  300  out  of  the  total  of  634  in 
the  whole  Fifth  Corps,  or  nearly  as  much  as  Griffin's  and  Ayres's  Divisions 
combined,  it  would  seem  that  "they  must  have  been  around  somewhere." 
The  Fifth  Corps  in  this  battle  captured  of  the  enemy  3,244  men  with 


358  THE  CAXXOXEEE. 

their  arras,  11  regimental  colors,  and  one  four-gun  battery  with  its  caissons. 
It  lost,  in  killed  and  wounded,  634  men,  of  whom  300  belonged  to  Gen. 
Crawford's  Division,  205  in  Gen.  Ayres's  Division  and  125  in  Gen.  Grif 
fin's  Division.  Among  these  were  several  distinguished  officers  of  high 
promise. 

It  was  always  a  matter  of  regret  with  me  that  our  batteries  got  no 
share  of  this  glory.  Not  a  gun  was  fired  on  our  side  at  Five  Forks  bigger 
than  a  Springfield  rifle.  Yet  it  is  doubtful  if  we  could  have  used  our  bat 
teries  if  they  had  been  present.  The  lay  of  the  ground  was  such,  and  the 
infantry  operations  so  rapid  and  conclusive,  that  there  would  have  been  no 
chance  to  use  artillery  and  really  no  need  of  it. 

The  peremptory  relief  of  Warren  by  Sheridan  has  caused  a  great  deal 
of  discussion,  to  which  I  do  not  propose  to  contribute  anything  additional 
in  this  sketch.  Gen.  Warren  was  always  popular  with  his  troops  and,  so 
far  as  I  know,  with  the  officers  who  served  under  his  command.  He  was 
a  man  of  unflinching  personal  courage,  faultless  manners  and  unvarying 
equanimity.  Of  unusual  politeness  at  all  times,  he  became  a  veritable 
Chesterfield  under  fire.  But  he  was  not  calculated,  either  by  nature  or  by 
training,  to  get  along  with  Gen.  Sheridan,  particularly  in  such  a  rough- 
and-tumble  campaign  as  this  was.  Gen.  Griffin  made  no  comment  on  the 
relief  of  Warren,  except  to  notify  Gen.  Bartlett  that  the  command  of  the 
First  Division  would  now  devolve  upon  him,  and  took  no  action  that  night 
except  to  send  the  note  to  Gen.  Humphreys,  as  before  described.  Gen. 
Griffin  never  said  a  word  on  the  subject  that  could  be  construed  into  a  per 
sonal  criticism.  The  most  he  would  say  was  that,  as  Warren's  successor, 
he,  of  all  men,  must  be  silent.  I  think  Sheridan  expected  too  much  of  the 
infantry  in  that  campaign,  and  the  faults  he  attributed  to  Warren  were 
mainly  due  to  the  frightful  condition  of  the  roads,  the  almost  incessant 
rain,  the  unfathomable  mud  and  the  consequent  inability  of  the  infantry 
to  move  with  the  celerity  which  Sheridan's  long  command  of  cavalry  led 
him  to  consider  possible.  Gen.  Sheridan  always  wanted  things  done  at  a 
gallop.  On  many  occasions  he  got  great  marching  out  of  the  infantry  under 
his  command,  but  he  was  inclined  to  overwork  that  branch  of  service,  par 
ticularly  after  he  had  been  for  some  time  in  command  of  the  Cavalry  Corps. 
Then,  I  think,  Sheridan  had  a  prejudice  against  engineer  officers  as  com 
manders  of  large  bodies  of  marching  and  fighting  troops.  However,  these 
are  only  the  personal  opinions  of  an  enlisted  man,  and  hence  of  no  his 
torical  value.  Maj.  George  B.  Halstead,  who  was  on  Gen.  Warren's  staff, 
has  kindly  written  to  me  a  description  of  the  personal  events  attending 
the  relief  of  that  officer  from  command.  It  is  as  follows : 

I  was  near  Gen.  Warren  after  the  Rebels  were  defeated,  when  he  rode  up 
on  his  wounded  horse  to  report  to  Sheridan,  and,  to  his  astonishment,  heard 
that  short  heart-breaking  command,  "  Report  at  once  to  Gen.  Benham  at  City 
Point,"  and  I  heard  Gen.  Warren's  questioning  answer,  after  he  had  dis 
mounted  and  was  walking  toward  Sheridan,  "  What  have  I  done  to  deserve 
this  ?  "  to  which  no  word  of  explanation  came  back,  when  he  mounted  and  at 
once  moved  off  to  comply,  accompanied  by  two  of  his  Aids,  Maj.  Cope  and 


WARREN  AND  SHERIDAN.  359 

Capt.Wadsworth.  The  writer  and  a  Captain  of  Signal  Service  rode  several  miles 
in  their  company,  moved  by  the  same  impulse  —  sympathy  —  both  believing1, 
and  so  saying,  that  a  great  injustice  had  been  committed.  Gen.  Warren,  after 
we  had  ridden  with  him  some  time  and  it  had  become  quite  dark,  thanked  us  for 
our  sympathy  and  courtesy.  We  bade  him  good-by ;  he  went  on.  We  slept  in 
the  open  on  our  blankets,  with  our  saddles  for  pillows,  that  night,  and  early 
next  morning  found  Fifth  Corps  headauarters  and  the  new  commander,  Gen. 
Griffin,  and  were  soon  on  the  march 

In  this  unfortunate  difficulty  there  was  one  factor  which  no  one  seems 
to  have  brought  out.  Boy  as  I  was,  it  was  not  possible  for  rne  to  help 
noticing  the  wide  and  irreconcilable  "incompatibility  of  temperament" 
between  Gens.  Warren  and  Sheridan.  Both  were  officers  of  the  most  accom 
plished  professional  ability  and  skill ;  both  men  of  undanted  personal 
bravery  and  cool  self-possession  in  a  crisis.  But  one  of  them  was  a  man  of 
the  nicest  delicacy  of  personal  intercourse ;  almost  painfully  tentative  of 
the  amenities  of  life  ;  scrupulously  considerate  of  the  feelings  of  others,  no 
matter  what  their  rank ;  a  model  of  politeness  in  address  and  gentleness  in 
bearing.  To  him  parlor,  camp  and  battlefield  were  the  same,  so  far  as  his 
personal  behavior  to  those  in  contact  with  him  was  concerned.  He  was  the 
easy,  dignified,  polished  gentleman  in  every  possible  form  or  condition  of 
intercourse,  whether  entertaining  friends  in  the  bosom  of  his  family  or  fac 
ing  the  enemy  under  fire.  That  was  Gouverneur  Kemble  Warren.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  elaborate  the  contrast,  because  no  one  who  knew  Philip 
Henry  Sheridan  would  ever  ascribe  to  him  the  qualities  just  depicted. 
What  Sheridan  was  as  a  soldier  or  a  commander  history  has  decided.  But 
no  one  who  knew  the  man  will  apprehend  an  eclipse  of  the  fame  of  the 
late  Earl  Chesterfield  for  courtliness  by  comparison  with  the  average  man 
ners  of  Gen.  Sheridan.  These  are  simply  mild  statements  of  facts,  well 
known  to  every  one.  No  criticism  of  Sneridan  is  intended.  On  the  con 
trary,  it  is  the  fact  that  his  very  roughness  of  speech  and  rudeness  of  man 
ner  endeared  him  to  the  average  of  our  soldiery.  Nothing  could  have 
pleased  the  troops  more  than  his  salutation  to  the  Vermont  Brigade  and 
the  remnant  of  McK night's  Battery  at  Cedar  Creek  when  he  told  us  that  we 
"would  go  at  'em  again  in  a  few  minutes,  and  would  knock  seven  different 
kinds  of  h out  of  'em  ! ! "  It  was  my  fortune,  in  the  humblest  of  sta 
tions,  to  see  both  of  these  great  men  in  various  emergencies  calculated  to 
develop  to  the  utmost  the  idiosyncracies  of  each.  Admiring  both,  and 
having  no  personal  relation  with  either,  possibly  I  may  be  as  fair  a  judge 
as  any  between  them.  It  only  remains  to  be  added  that  the  sentiment 
expressed  by  Maj.  Halstead,  "that  an  injustice  had  been  done,"  was  uni 
versal  in  the  Fifth  Corps,  from  Generals  to  drummer  boys.  It  broke  War 
ren's  heart,  and  doubtless  shortened  his  days.  But  in  history  it  can  have 
no  effect  upon  his  splendid  record,  and  so,  perhaps,  as  both  victim  and  per 
secutor  are  no  more,  it  is  as  well  to  let  the  controversy  sleep  with  them. 

Gen.  Griffin  retained  the  Corps  Staff  as  Gen.  Warren  left  it.  I  do  not 
recollect  that  he  brought  any  of  the  First  Division  staff  over  to  corps  head 
quarters  except,  perhaps,  two  of  his  Aids.  The  Fifth  Corps  Staff  was 


360  THE  CANNONEER. 

a  group  of  as  elegant  gentlemen  and  accomplished  officers  as  ever  aasem- 
bled  in  a  like  capacity.  No  part  of  my  humble  career  was  so  inspiring  in 
the  military  sense,  or  so  gratifying  personally,  as  my  brief  service  in  con 
nection  with  the  headquarters  of  the  Fifth  Corps  from  Five  Forks  to  Ap- 
pomattox,  and  thence  back  to  Richmond.  Those  of  the  staff  whom  I  re 
member  best  were  Col.  Frederick  T.  Locke,  Adjutant-General  of  the  corps ; 
Maj.  George  B.  Halstead,  his  assistant;  Dr.  Spencer,  Surgeon-General  or 
Medical  Director  of  the  corps,  who  used  to  give  me  many  a  little  extra 
ration  of  ' '  quinine  in  a  state  of  solution ' '  after  some  extraordinary  fatigue ; 
Maj.  Cope,  Chief  Aid-de-Camp  and  Topographer,  and  Capt.  "Jimmy" 
Wadsworth,  son  of  our  gallant  and  lamented  old  General  who  was  killed 
in  the  Wilderness.  I  may  remark  here  that  I  had  the  pleasure  of  renew 
ing  this  acquaintance  with  Capt.  Wadsworth  when  he  was  Member  of  Con 
gress  from  New  York  some  years  ago.  The  others  were  Col.  Bankhead, 
Col.  Thomas,  Col.  Smith,  Maj.  Gentry,  Capt.  Malvern,  Capt.  Beuyaurd, 
and  Capt.  Winslow  (not  George  Winslow,  of  Winslow's  celebrated  Bat 
tery),  the  son  of  a  Chaplain,  who,  I  think,  had  been  killed  or  mortally 
wounded  in  battle  while  on  some  errand  of  mercy.  But  my  duty  did  not 
bring  me  in  contact  with  the  latter  so  much  as  with  those  first  mentioned. 
During  the  campaign  these  officers  treated  Hyatt  and  me  with  the  same 
consideration  and  kindness  that  they  would  have  shown  to  junior  Lieuten 
ants  on  the  staff — conversing  with  us  freely,  sharing  their  supplies  with 
us,  and  repeatedly  trusting  us  with  messages  and  other  duties  of  impor 
tance  not  usually  confided  to  enlisted  men.  This  was  especially  true  of 
Col.  Locke,  Maj.  Halstead  and  Capt.  Wadsworth  ;  and,  by  the  way,  Maj. 
Halstead  was  a  sort  of  hero  among  the  boys  at  this  time.  He  had  served 
on  Phil  Kearney's  staff  in  the  Peninsular  campaign,  had  been  taken  pris 
oner,  had  "dug  out  "  of  Libby,  been  retaken  and  put  "under  fire,"  then 
exchanged,  then  made  the  Red  River  campaign  with  Banks,  then  came 
North  with  the  Nineteenth  Corps,  and  so  swung  around  the  circle  till  he 
got  with  Warren.  He  was  as  game  a  man  as  I  ever  knew.  At  the  time 
of  which  I  now  write  he"  was  suffering  from  a  severe  wound  received  in  the 
battle  of  the  White  Oak  Road,  March  31,  which  the  Surgeon  had  to  dress 
twice  a  day,  but  he  stuck  to  the  saddle  and  never  quit  till  Lee  surrendered. 
At  daybreak  the  2d  of  April  the  whole  of  the  Fifth  Corps  was  in  mo 
tion  toward  Sutherland  Station,  where  it  was  expected  that  we  would 
get  across  Lee's  line  of  retreat  and  wind  the  thing  right  up.  From,  this 
time  on  Gen.  Griffin  kept  his  Orderlies  continually  in  motion,  night  as  well 
as  day.  When  he  took  the  command  of  the  corps  he,  of  course,  fell  heir 
to  Gen.  Warren's  escort  of  cavalry  Orderlies  and  messengers.  But  he  took 
his  two  artillerymen — Hyatt  and  myself — over  from  division  headquar 
ters.  What  made  the  mounted  messenger  work  so  excessive  was  the  neces 
sity  of  constant  personal  communication  by  mounted  couriers  or  Orderlies 
between  the  different  corps  commanders  and  their  division  commanders, 
and  with  Gens.  Meade  or  Sheridan  and  Ord,  particularly  after  Lee  began  to 
retreat  with  his  whole  army  on  the  morning  of  the  3d  and  the  Telegraph 


"THE  FOOT  CAVALRY."  361 

Corps  could  not  keep  up  with  the  array.  The  roads  were  very  muddy,  the 
streams  were  all  swollen  with  continual  rain,  and  as  there  were  but  few 
bridges  we  frequently  had  to  wade  up  to  our  horses'  necks,  and  sometimes 
to  swim  them  across  the  creeks. 

At  that  time  I  was  not  much  used  to  horseback  riding,  as  I  had  been 
a  Cannoneer  most  of  the  time,  and  so  rode  on  the  limber-chest  or  marched 
on  foot,  as  I  pleased,  and  during  the  whole  Winter  I  had  been  clerking  at 
the  ammunition  wharf.  So,  when  I  came  to  ride  night  and  day  for  10 
days  at  a  time,  it  was  pretty  hard  on  my  fat  legs,  which,  by  the  time  we 
reached  Appomattox,  were  perfectly  raw  on  the  inside  next  the  saddle 
from  the  knee  up.  The  fatigues  and  privations  were  terrible,  and  nothing 
could  have  made  me  sustain  them  except  the  faculty  that  Griffin  had  of 
making  men  under  his  command  perform  prodigies.  This  was  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  that  the  headquarters  of 
an  army  corps  had  outrun  the  Military  Telegraph  Corps.  The  Telegraph 
Corps  had  a  most  perfect  system.  They  had  mounted  operators  carrying 
instruments  in  sachels  swung  like  haversacks,  and  they  carried  their  wire 
on  reels  fixed  on  the  backs  of  horses  and  mules,  or  in  carts,  and  they  would 
reel  off  this  wire  right  on  the  ground  or  fasten  it  to  trees  or  fences,  so  that 
when  the  headquarters  of  a  corps  halted  for  camp  or  battle  they  would  be 
ready  to  send  dispatches  to  Grant  or  Meade  from  the  Corps  Commander,  or 
receive  dispatches  from  army  headquarters.  But  in  this  Appomattox  cam 
paign  the  Fifth  and  Twenty-fourth  Corps,  under  Griffin  and  Gibbon, 
became  actual  "  foot  cavalry, "  and  from  Five  Forks  on  we  literally  par 
alyzed  the  Telegraph  Corps  and  left  them  far  in  the  rear ;  in  fact,  after 
Five  Forks  the  whole  campaign  resolved  itself  into  a  regular  fox  hunt.  I 
never  heard  of  any  infantry  marches  equal  to  our  march  from  Sutherland 
Station  to  Jetersville,  from  Jetersville  to  Ligonton  Ferry,  from  Ligonton 
to  Prince  Edward  Courthouse,  or  from  there  to  Prospect  Station,  or  from 
Prospect  to  Appomattox.  The  latter  was  a  clear  stretch  of  40-odd  miles  in 
about  16  hours,  and  that,  too,  on  roads  ankle  deep  in  mud,  and  in  rain 
more  than  half  the  time.  As  soon  as  it  was  clearly  developed  that  the  re 
mains  of  Lee's  army  had  pulled  out  for  Appomattox  Courthouse  our  fel 
lows  just  stretched  their  necks  forward  and  loped  off  like  bloodhounds  on  a 
fresh  track,  determined  to  get  across  Lee's  path  and  wind  the  thing  up  then 
and  there.  Talk  about  light  marching  order  !  It  was  flying  !  Knapsacks 
had  long  ceased  to  exist  in  the  Fifth  Corps.  A  rubber  blanket  was  con 
sidered  "baggage"  and  a  woolen  blanket  "freight."  The  only  things 
they  hung  onto  were  haversacks,  canteens,  rifles  and  cartridge-boxes.  We 
were  right  after  old  Lee  that  time.  We  knew  we  had  him  at  last,  and 
did  not  propose  to  let  him  get  away. 

The  operations  terminating  in  the  battle  of  Five  Forks  on  the  part  of 
the  Fifth  Corps  and  the  cavalry,  and  the  forcing  of  the  Petersburg  lines  by 
the  rest  of  the  army,  up  to  and  including  April  2,  should  be  considered  a 
campaign  by  itself,  though  a  brief  one,  and  should  be  kept  separate  in  mili 
tary  history  from  the  ' '  Appomattox  campaign ' '  proper.  About  daylight 


362  THE  CANNONEER. 

April  2,  1865,  the  Fifth  Corps  moved  by  the  Ford  Road  north  from  Five 
Forks  and  advanced  up  that  road  about  five  miles  to  Ford's  Crossroads, 
which  was  the  place  where  the  Ford  Road  and  the  Cox  Road  crossed.  Here 
the  corps  halted  about  10  or  11  o'clock,  and  Gen.  Griffin  made  his  head 
quarters  at  a  little  church  or  chapel  called  "Ford's  Meeting  House." 
Ayres's  Division  was  leading,  and  they  pushed  out  eastwardly  on  the  Cox 
Road  toward  Sutherland  Station,  on  the  South  Side  Railroad,  but  had  not 
gone  more  than  a  mile  when  Gen.  Griffin  sent  a  message  to  Gen.  Ayres, 
which  caused  that  officer  to  countermarch  his  division  ;  and  the  whole  corps, 
moving  by  its  other  flank,  marched  rapidly  up  what  was  called  the  Nanio- 
zine  Road,  leading  to  the  Appomattox  River.  This  change  of  direction  of 
the  Fifth  Corps  was  in  consequence  of  Gen.  Merritt's  Cavalry  Division  en 
countering  the  enemy  in  some  force  where  the  Namozine  Road  forks  with 
the  river  road,  and  it  was  thought  that  this  force  was  the  head  of  column  of 
Lee's  infantry  retreating  from  Richmond  and  Petersburg.  However,  they 
did  not  turn  out  to  be  in  heavy  force,  and  Gen.  Griffin  being  advised  by 
Sheridan  that  the  enemy  would  probably  push  for  Amelia  Courthouse,  and 
that  he  desired  him  to  take  up  a  line  at  Jetersville  the  next  day,  orders 
were  given  for  the  corps  to  bivouac  where  they  were  and  be  in  readiness  to 
march  at  4  the  next  morning  (April  3).  This  bivouac  was  in  and  about  the 
Williamson  Farm,  the  General  and  his  staff  occupying  the  house  and  out 
buildings.  This  was  the  last  night  that  Gen.  Griffin  slept  under  cover  until 
the  night  after  Lee  surrendered.  I  did  not  get  much  rest  until  midnight, 
being  employed  in  communicating  between  Gen.  Griffin  and  Gen.  Craw 
ford,  whose  division  was  pushed  out  to  the  Namozine  Creek,  about  two 
miles,  to  support  Merritt's  Cavalry  Division,  who  thought  that  the  enemy 
was  gathering  in  their  front  in  force  between  the  creek  crossing  and  the 
Appomattox  River.  Gen.  Crawford  was  a  very  particular  man  about  orders, 
and  he  always  gave  Staff  Officers  and  Orderlies  a  good  deal  of  trouble,  though 
doubtless  no  more  than  his  responsibilities  required.  But  he  was  very  dif 
ferent  from  either  Gen.  Ayres  or  Gen.  Bartlett,  who  frequently  only  glanced 
at  an  order  and,  unless  it  was  very  important,  simply  said  verbally,  ' '  Re 
port  to  Gen.  Griffin  that  you  delivered  this  order  about  2:20  !"  or  whatever 
time  it  may  have  been.  But  Gen.  Crawford  would  read  it  over,  note  the 
time  of  its  receipt  on  the  back  of  it,  and  then,  as  a  rule,  write  a  letter  back 
to  the  Corps  Commander,  which  in  turn  would  involve  a  reply  or  a  further 
order  explaining  the  first  one,  all  of  which  might  easily  keep  a  staff  officer 
or  courier  riding  all  night.  Gen.  Crawford,  though  a  gallant  officer,  seemed 
to  have  a  mania  for  writing.  At  any  rate  he  kept  me  going  till  after  mid 
night  April  3,  and  toward  the  last  I  could  see  that  Gen.  Griffin  was  getting 
out  of  patience,  as  I  had  to  wake  him  up  once  with  a  return  message  from 
Gen.  Crawford.  However,  though  Gen.  Crawford  was  peculiar,  and  to  a 
great  extent  unpopular  with  his  brother  officers,  he  had  the  distinction  of 
having  seen  and  heard  the  first  and  last  gun  of  the  rebellion  fired,  having 
been  under  fire  at  Fort  Sumter  and  at  Appomattox  Courthouse  —  a  dis 
tinction  which,  I  believe,  he  enjoyed  all  by  himself,  having  no  one  to  share 


HALT  AT  JETERSVILLE.  363 

it  with  him.  My  chief  interest  in  Crawford's  Division  at  this  time  was  that 
it  contained  the  sole  surviving  remnants  of  the  old  Iron  Brigade  —  the  un 
dying  6th  and  7th  Wisconsin  —  which,  with  the  91st  New  York,  a  regiment 
from  my  own  State,  formed  the  First  Brigade  of  the  division,  under  com 
mand  of  Col.  Kellogg.  I  do  not  know  why  it  was,  but  I  always  had  a  much 
greater  affection  for  the  men  of  those  three  Wisconsin  regiments  —  2d,  6th 
and  7th  —  than  for  any  troops  from  my  own  State  of  New  York. 

About  4  a.  m.  April  4  Capt.  Vanderbilt  Allen  came  with  an  order  from 
Gen.  Sheridan  directing  Gen  Griffin  to  put  the  Fifth  Corps  in  motion  for 
Jetersville,  where  he  was  expecting  to  block  Lee's  pathway,  the  idea  then 
being  that  Lee  would  pull  for  Danville,  and  Jetersville  was  on  that  route. 
Capt.  Allen  said  verbally  to  Gen.  Griffin  :  "General,  Sheridan  says  tell  the 
Fifth  Corps  boys  that  he  wants  them  to  '  send  themselves '  for  every  par 
ticle  of  leg-power  they've  got,  because  he  expects  to  stop  Lee's  infantry 
advance  there  with  his  cavalry,  and  wants  support  as  quick  as  he  can  get 
it."  As  it  was  32  miles  by  the  roads  from  our  bivouac  at  Williamson's  to 
Jetersville,  it  will  be  seen  that  this  was  to  be  no  slouch  of  a  forced  march, 
particularly  in  April  rains,  with  mud  ankle  deep,  and  all  the  creeks  flooded, 
with  hardly  a  bridge  left  on  the  route.  The  situation  will  be  sufficiently 
understood  when  I  say  that  the  route  from  Williamson's  to  Jetersville  was 
totally  impassable  for  either  the  fighting  trains  or  the  batteries,  all  of  which 
were  left  behind  by  our  grand  old  "foot  cavalry"  of  the  Fifth  Corps. 

Leaving  Williamson's  at  7  a.  m.,  about  4  p.  m.  Bartlett  deployed  his 
division  (formerly  Griffin's)  across  the  Danville  Railroad,  about  half  a 
mile  in  advance  of  Jetersville  Station,  having  covered  the  32  miles  in  nine 
hours.  Maybe  somebody  has  seen  infantry  marching  to  beat  that.  At 
this  point  Col.  Newhall  came  from  Gen.  Sheridan  with  a  message,  saying 
that  the  cavalry  advance  had  struck  the  flankers  of  Lee's  infantry  alxrat 
five  miles  north  of  our  then  position,  and  that  he  (Sheridan)  was  satisfied 
that  Lee  was  concentrating  at  Amelia  Courthouse,  which  was  not  more 
than  three  miles  from  the  point  then  occupied  by  the  cavalry  skirmishers. 
Col.  Newhall  said  Sheridan  did  not  expect  the  Fifth  Corps  to  march  any 
farther  on  that  day  —  which,  we  thought,  was  very  kind  of  him,  seeing 
that  we  had  marched  only  32  miles  already  ! !  —  but  suggested  that  it  might 
be  well  for  Griffin  to  take  up  and  intrench  a  line  calculated  to  hold  the 
Jetersville  position  till  the  rest  of  the  infantry  could  come  up  in  case  Lee, 
finding  he  had  only  the  cavalry  and  the  Fifth  Corps  to  deal  with,  should 
attempt  to  dislodge  them  from  his  pathway  the  next  morning,  saying,  also, 
that  we  could  not  absolutely  depend  on  the  Second  and  Sixth  Corps  to  be 
up  before  noon  or  night  the  next  day  (5th),  so  that  we  might  have  to  tight 
Lee's  whole  army  there  if  he  continued  to  retreat  in  that  direction,  and 
should  attempt  to  force  his  passage.  Consequently  our  boys,  after  a  forced 
march  of  32  miles  in  nine  hours  in  the  mud,  and  wading  creeks  up  to  their 
necks,  turned  to  and  before  dark  had  their  position  quite  nicely  intrenched 
on  a  line  covering  Jetersville  on  the  north  and  refused  to  the  left,  the  whole 
making  a  line  about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  long !  Bartlett's  and  Ayres's 


364  THE  CANXOXEEB. 

Divisions  held  the  line  of  the  Danville  Railroad  northeast  of  Jetersville, 
forming  the  right  and  center  of  the  Fifth  Corps  line  of  hattle,  while  Craw 
ford  came  up  about  6  p.  m.  and  occupied  the  part  of  the  line  on  the  left 
that  was  refused.  In  this  shape  the  corps  bivouacked  for  the  night. 

On  this  particular  occasion,  just  as  the  General  was  falling  asleep,  Gen. 
Bartlett  rode  into  our  bivouac,  and  he  and  Griffin  had  quite  a  talk  in  under 
tones,  of  which  I  heard  enough  to  know  that  it  referred  to  the  dispositions 
that  Gen.  Crawford  had  made  of  his  troops,  which  left  a  gap  between  his 
flank  and  that  of  the  next  division.  The  result  of  this  was  that  Griffin 
told  Bartlett  to  correct  that  as  well  as  he  could  with  his  own  troops,  but 
not  to  bother  Crawford,  as  it  might  set  him  to  writing  dispatches,  which, 
as  it  was  quite  late,  and  he  (Griffin)  was  very  tired,  would  be  inconvenient. 

During  the  5th  of  April,  and  until  3  a.  m.  on  the  6th,  we  remained  in 
this  position  at  Jetersville.  Meantime  the  Second  and  Sixth  Corps  got  up 
:along  in  the  afternoon  of  the  5th  and  went  into  position,  the  Second  Corps 
extending  our  line  to  the  left  toward  Amelia  Courthouse,  and  the  Sixth 
forming  close  in  our  right  rear.  Then  we  felt  safe  enough.  Between  2  and 
3  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  6th  of  April  Col.  Whittier,  of  the  General 
staff,  and  Capt.  Pease,  Gen.  Meade's  personal  Aid-de-Camp,  came  up  with 
important  orders  all  along  the  line.  The  purport  of  these  orders  was  that 
the  Second,  Fifth  and  Sixth  Corps  should  move  at  once  to  Amelia  Court 
house,  or  Amelia  Springs,  about  three  miles  beyond,  and  attack  Lee's  flank, 
while  the  cavalry  would  stop  him,  so  that  we  could  force  him  to  halt  and 
face  us.  This,  it  was  believed,  would  wind  the  thing  up,  as  there  could  be 
no  doubt  of  the  ability  of  the  Second,  Fifth  and  Sixth  Corps  (then  about 
42,000  infantry  and  artillery,  with  about  12,000  or  12,500  effective  cavalry) 
to  annihilate  what  was  left  of  Lee's  army  (then  estimated  at  about  38,000 
effective)  if  we  could  get  a  fair  clatter  at  them  in  the  open.  We  were  all 
astir  in  a  few  minutes.  When  I  went  to  saddle  up  my  little  mare  I  found 
her  back  badly  swollen.  During  the  previous  day  I  had  to  ford  Flat  Creek 
several  times,  where  the  water  came  up  over  the  saddle,  and  the  wetting 
of  the  saddle-blanket,  with  hard  riding  afterward,  had  galled  her.  She  was 
nothing  but  a  pony,  and  much  too  light  for  me  in  that  kind  of  service,  as 
I  then  weighed  160  pounds,  though  only  19  years  old,  while  she  was  hardly 
13  hands  high  and  would  not  weigh  over  650  or  675  pounds ;  so  I  got 
another  and  larger  mare  from  the  General's  escort.  She  was  a  beauty,  and 
also  a  holy  terror.  When  I  went  to  saddle  her  she  nearly  bit  a  chunk 
out  of  my  left  shoulder,  and  when  I  prepared  to  mount  she  whirled  and 
almost  kicked  the  cap  off  my  right  knee  !  But  I  got  on  top  of  her,  and 
when  I  once  felt  solid  in  the  saddle  I  said,  "Now,  my  young  lady,  if  we 
have  a  fight  or  a  forced  march  to-day  I  will  take  some  of  those  songs  out 
of  you ! "  I  can  see  her  now  shaking  her  pretty  head  and  chawing  that  big 
snafflebit.  (The  General  would  not  permit  her  to  be  ridden  with  a  gagbit. ) 

The  Fifth  Corps  now  led  the  procession,  forming  the  right  of  the  army, 
Bartlett's  Division  in  advance,  Ayres's  next  and  Crawford's  third.  About 
daylight  April  6  we  struck  a  crossroads  called  Hall's  Shop,  from  an  old 


GEX.  GRIFFIX  WHOOPS  THE  BOYS  UP.  365 

blacksmith  shop  there,  but  did  not  find  the  enemy.  The  expectation  on 
which  the  plan  of  this  movement  was  based  was  that  we  would  strike  the 
flank  of  Lee's  column  at  this  crossroads,  as  they  were  supposed  to  be  mov 
ing  on  the  general  route  toward  Danville  from  Amelia  Courthouse.  But 
as  it  turned  out  they  had  deflected,  and  so,  as  the  Fifth  Corps  kept  on 
toward  Deatonsville,  it  slid  by  Lee's  flank,  leaving  Wright  with  the  Sixth 
Corps  and  Sheridan  with  the  cavalry  to  fight  the  battle  of  Sailor's  Creek, 
while  we  marched  to  Ligonton  Ferry  during  the  day,  a  clean  stretch  of  35 
miles  from  our  bivouac  at  or  near  Jetersville,  the  Second  Corps  getting  on ' 
the  north  side  of  the  river  to  prevent  escape  toward  Lynchburg.  My  co 
quettish  new  mare,  "  Miss  Kitty,"  was  quite  docile  when  we  got  to  Ligon 
ton  Ferry  that  evening. 

The  corps  halted  about  half  a  mile  from  the  ferry  and  bivouacked  in 
the  fields  and  groves  overlooking  the  river  about  dark.  All  the  infantry 
appeared  to  be  in  good  heart,  and  as  I  rode  through  their  bivouacs  that 
night  delivering  messages  to  the  division  commanders  I  could  not  see  that 
they  were  the  least  bit  ' '  done  up, ' '  as  the  English  say,  by  the  unheard  of 
forced  marching  they  had  done.  I  cannot  begin  to  find  words  to  express 
the  admiration,  nay,  the  homage  I  felt  for  those  heroic  ' '  dough  boys, ' '  who 
had  footed  it  that  day  35  miles  in  10  hours,  and  who  were  now,  at  night 
fall,  gathering  around  fires  of  rails  and  limbs  of  trees  boiling  coffee  in  their 
tin  cups,  roasting  pieces  of  salt  pork  on  the  ends  of  sticks  or  ramrods,  their 
caps  set  on  the  backs  of  their  heads,  their  pantaloons  legs  tucked  in  their 
boots,  or  more  often  into  their  old  gray  army  socks — for  many  of  the  in 
fantry  wore  shoes  instead  of  boots — all  soiled  with  mud  and  battered,  but 
"fat,  ragged  and  sassy." 

Ah  well,  it  was  only  once  in  a  lifetime — and  comparatively  few  life 
times  at  that — when  one  could  see  in  flesh  and  blood  and  nerve  and  pluck 
and  manhood  that  immortal  old  Fifth  Corps  on  its  way  to  Appomattox  ! 
On  its  way,  keeping  step  and  step  with  Sheridan's  cavalry,  to  get  across 
the  path  of  Lee's  army  !  During  these  terrible  forced  marches  of  the  Fifth. 
Corps  Gen.  Griffin's  wonderful  power  in  dealing  with  soldiers,  and  his 
marvellous  tact  in  cheering  men  on  to  incredible  exertions,  became  mani 
fest.  If  that  noble  man  had  a  fault,  it  was  his  apparent  incapacity  to  un 
derstand  that  there  was  a  limit  to  human  endurance.  In  those  marches 
we  would  be  riding  along  the  flank  of  the  column,  and  the  General  would 
see  a  dozen  or  so  of  stragglers  by  the  side  of  the  road.  He  would  then 
rein  up  his  horse  and  call  out  to  them  : 

"  Hello,  there  !    What  is  the  matter  with  you  fellows?  " 
"Clean  tuckered  out,  General ;  can't  march  another  step." 
"Look  here,  boys,"  the  General  would  reply,  "don't  you  know  that 
we  have  got  old  Lee  on  the  run,  and  our  corps  and  the  cavalry  are  trying 
to  head  him  off?    If  he  escapes  from  us  old  Sherman  and  his  bummers  will 
catch  him  and  get  all  the  glory,  and  we  won't  have  anything  to  show  for 
our  four  years'  fighting  !     Try  it  once  more  !     Get  up  and  pull  out  and  re 
join  your  commands.     Don't  flicker  this  way  at  the  last  moment !  " 


366  THE    CANNONEER. 

Then  you  would  see  those  old  fellows  straighten  up  and  pull  them 
selves  together  and  shoulder  their  muskets,  and  they  would  look  at  one 
another  and  say  : 

"By ,  boys,  that's  so.  The  General  is  right.  It  will  never  do 

to  let  'Old  Billy '  and  his  bummers  catch  Lee's  army.  They  are  our  meat, 
and  we  must  have  them  ourselves  ! " 

Then  they  would  begin  tramping  through  the  mud  again,  and  Griffin 
would  ride  on  to  find  some  other  squad  of  stragglers,  and  go  through  the 
same  sermon  over  again.  It  made  no  difference  how  tired  or  faint  or  sore 
an  Army  of  the  Potomac  man  might  be,  he  couldn't  endure  the  thought  of 
letting  Lee's  army  get  away,  so  that  those  Western  fellows  would  catch 
him  and  get  the  glory  of  winding  the  thing  up.  When  I  was  riding  along 
with  the  escort  I  used  to  wish  that  I  could  dismount  and  give  up  my  horse 
to  every  one  of  those  poor,  exhausted,  but  brave  and  determined  infantry 
comrades,  who  were  actually  ' '  falling  by  the  wayside, ' '  but  who,  when 
their  pride  was  stirred  by  the  thought  that  Sherman 's  army  might  usurp 
the  fruits  of  their  toils  and  sufferings  of  four  long  years,  took  a  new  lease 
of  life  and  strength  and  staggered  on  once  more  toward  Appomattox  and 
the  end  !  No  one  who  did  not  see  them  can  form  the  faintest  idea  of  what 
they  did  and  dared  and  suffered  !  And  Gen.  Griffin  was  a  whole  Provost 
guard  all  by  himself. 

At  daybreak  April  7,  or  a  little  before,  Gen.  Sheridan,"  who  was  then 
at  Prince  Edward  Courthouse  with  Merritt's  Cavalry  Division,  sent  his 
brother,  Col.  Mike  Sheridan  —  who,  by  the  way,  rode  nearly  all  night  — 
to  tell  Griffin  to  move  at  once  to  Prince  Edward  Courthouse  and  there 
await  further  orders.  I  always  had  a  fancy  for  Col.  Mike  Sheridan.  He 
seemed  to  be  the  perfection  of  the  rough-and-ready  "Irish  trooper,"  always 
on  hand,  jolly,  tireless,  reckless  ;  in  short,  a  born  soldier.  His  ways  were 
somewhat  rough  and  his  language  sometimes  more  forcible  than  polite,  but 
everybody  noticed  that  Col.  Mike  always  "got  there,"  and  everybody  liked 
him.  When  he  reached  Griffin  that  morning  he  was  covered  with  mud 
from  head  to  foot,  dressed  in  the  uniform  of  a  private  cavalryman,  with 
no  insignia  of  his  rank  except  his  Captain's  bars  on  the  collar  of  his  jacket 
(he  was  only  a  Captain  in  the  Eegular  Army,  though  a  volunteer  Colonel, 
and  he  always  wore  the  marks  of  his  Eegular  rank).  The  gallant  Colonel 
was  in  need  of  "refreshments,"  which  it  afforded  me  great  pleasure  to  find 
for  him. 

The  march  from  Ligonton  to  Prince  Edward  was  about  28  or  30  miles, 
and  we  made  it  in  about  eight  hours,  halting  along  the  Prospect  Road,  with 
Corps  headquarters  near  the  old  College  (Hampden-Sydney),  just  before 
dark.  On  arriving  at  Prince  Edward  Gen.  Griffin  had  received  informa 
tion  on  his  own  account,  which  satisfied  him  that  Lee  was  moving  by  the 
river  roads  toward  Appomattox,  and  consequently  the  Fifth  Corps  at  Prince 
Edward  was  a  little  too  far  south  to  be  within  striking  distance  in  the  coup 
de  grace,  which  evidently  must  happen  in  a  few  days,  or  even  hours. 
Griffin's  whole  idea  was  that  the  old  Fifth  Corps  must  be  in  at  the  death- 


CLOSING  UP  AROUND  LEE.  367 

Just  at  this  time  he  received  information  that  Gen.  Gibbon,  with  two 
divisions  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Corps  and  two  brigades  of  the  Twenty-fifth, 
the  whole  forming  a  column  under  Gen.  Ord,  had  preceded  him,  moving, 
as  they  did,  by  a  shorter  route  from  Petersburg,  and  that  they  would  camp 
that  night  at  Prospect  Station,  on  the  South  Side  Railroad,  which  was  per 
haps  five  miles  northwest  from  the  position  where  our  corps  halted.  Gen. 
Gibbon  had  also  sent  a  personal  message  to  Griffin,  stating  that  his  com 
mand  would  move  before  daylight  on  the  8th  toward  Appomattox  Station, 
distant  about  38  or  40  miles,  and  suggesting  that  his  information  was  that 
if  they  could  reach  that  point  by  the  morning  of  the  9th  they  would  get 
across  Lee's  pathway,  and  therefore  wind  up  the  whole  business. 

This  movement  practically  made  two  separate  wings  or  columns  of  the 
forces  under  Gen.  Grant  —  the  Second,  Sixth  and  some  part  of  the  Ninth 
Corps  following  Lee  on  the  Farmville  Road,  while  Sheridan,  with  most  of 
the  cavalry,  and  Griffin  and  Gibbon,  with  the  Fifth  and  two  divisions  of 
the  Twenty-fourth  Corps,  and  two  brigades  of  the  Twenty-fifth,  moved  by 
the  roads  from  Prince  Edward  to  Appomattox  Station  to  get  in  front  of  Lee 
and  head  him  oif.  During  the  8th  of  April  the  Fifth  and  Twenty-fourth 
Corps  marched  about  35  miles  and  halted  about  9  p.  m.  The  head  of  column, 
which,  I  think,  was  Turner's  Division,  of  Gibbon's  Corps,  was  now  about 
eight  miles  southeast  of  Appomattox  Station,  on  the  road  leading  from 
Prospect  Station  to  that  place,  and  keeping  generally  on  the  north  side  of 
the  railroad.  The  colored  troops  were  with  this  column.  Sometime  during 
the  night  of  April  8,  or  very  early  in  the  morning  of  the  9th,  word  came 
from  Sheridan  that  he  had  got  across  Lee's  path  west  of  Appomattox  Court 
house  with  three  divisions  of  cavalry,  and  that  he  did  not  know  how  long 
he  could  hold  the  enemy's  infantry  if  they  attacked  him  at  daylight ;  but 
he  would  do  the  best  he  could,  and  urging  Gibbon  and  Griffin  to  get  to  him 
as  quick  as  they  could. 

These  messages  caused  the  tired  troops  to  be  started  again  about  3 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  April.  Considering  their  condition 
they  marched  rapidly,  and  between  8  and  9  a.  m.  our  head  of  column,  Bart- 
lett's  Division  leading,  came  in  sight  of  our  cavalry,  which  was  just  be 
ginning  to  retire  before  a  skirmish  line  of  the  enemy's  infantry  on  the  line 
of  the  Lynchburg  Road.  The  enemy  also  had  several  guns  in  position  on 
the  elevations  west  or  southwest  of  Appomattox  Courthouse. 

We  soon  discovered  that  the  Twenty-fourth  Corps  was  filing  up  toward 
the  Lynchburg  Road  to  prolong  our  left.  The  colored  troops  of  Birney's 
Division  were  leading,  and  formed  on  the  extreme  left  of  our  infantry  line 
north  of  the  Lynchburg  Road  early  in  the  morning  of  April  9.  On  this 
point  I  have  before  me  the  testimony  of  Gen.  Henry  Capehart,  commanding 
the  Third  Brigade  of  Custer's  Division,  Maj.  Halstead,  of  Griffin's  staff,  and 
other  officers  and  men  of  the  Fifth  and  Twenty-fourth  Corps,  and  several 
officers  of  the  colored  troops  themselves.  Lack  of  space  alone  forbids  in 
corporation  of  the  text  of  this  testimony  here,  excepting  that  of  Maj.  George 
B.  Halstead,  Assistant  Adjutant-General  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  and  Capt.  R.  A. 


368  THE  CAXXOXEEB. 

Barnes,  now  of  Lockport,  New  York,  then  Adjutant  of  the  31st  Colored 
Troops,  which  regiment  formed  the  extreme  left  of  the  infantry  of  our  wing 
of  the  army,  and,  therefore,  was  entitled  to  the  distinction  of  :' heading  the 
column ' '  in  the  final  environment  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia.  Capt. 
Barnes  says : 

I  have  just  read  Gen.  Capehart's  testimony  that  "the  colored  troops  were 
the  first  infantry  on  the  field  the  next  morning  "  (the  9th).  All  day  long  the 
8th  we  marched  and  until  11  at  night.  At  2  in  the  morning  we  were  roused  and 
in  a  half  hour  were  on  the  march.  Soon  after  daylight,  as  I  remember  (the  31st 
United  States  Colored  Troops  leading  the  division),  we  came  up  to  a  cavalry 
column  with  Sheridan  at  its  head.  As  we  came  up  the  cavalry,  which  had  evi 
dently  been  waiting  for  us,  moved  on,  and  we  started  off  on  a  double  quick, 
which  we  kept  up  for  a  couple  of  miles  perhaps,  going  in  a  northerly  direction. 
As  we  went  through  an  open  grove  we  were  shelled  quite  lively,  and  upon  com 
ing  out  into  the  open  field  the  whiz  of  musket  balls  was  anything  but  quieting. 
As  the  regiment  staggered  into  line  they  faced  by  the  rear  rank,  facing  the  east, 
and  squarely  across  Lee's  path.  Col.  Ward  and  Maj.  Wright  were  now  engaged 
in  bringing  up  the  stragglers,  and  by  order  of  the  Colonel  I  was  forming  the 
line  when  an  Aid  brought  an  order  from  the  brigade  commander  to  throw  out 
one  company  as  skirmishers  and  one  company  as  flankers.  This  I  did,  going  out 
to  place  the  flankers  in  position.  It  was  the  understanding  that  our  regiment 
(31st  United  States  Colored  Troops)  was  to  be  the  extreme  left  of  the  infantry. 
I  was  soon  joined  by  the  Major,  and  together  we  advanced  with  the  skirmishers, 
soon  leaving  the  main  line  quite  a  distance  in  the  rear.  The  enemy  fell  back 
and  ceased  to  fire.  A  small  piece  of  woods  now  hid  us  from  our  main  line, 
when  all  at  once  we  were  startled  and  halted  by  a  tremendous  volley  in  our 
rear.  The  Major  rode  back  to  see  what  the  trouble  was,  and  upon  returning 
said :  "  Lee  has  surrendered,  and  that  firing  was  our  men  firing  their  muskets 
in  the  air."  I  never  heard  that  any  one  was  hurt  by  the  stray  bullets.  It  was 
an  impulse  which  I  think  seized  the  whole  brigade  at  the  same  instant.  I  have 
expected  to  see  some  one  higher  in  authority  call  attention  to  this  action  of 
the  colored  troops,  for  I  am  unable  to  say  what  part  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Corps 
were  present  at  this  particular  place.  An  honor  it  certainly  was  to  be  placed 
in  the  extreme  advance  on  such  an  important  occasion. 

Referring  to  this  subject,  Maj.  George  B.  Halstead,  of  our  (Fifth  Corps) 
staff,  says,  in  a  letter  to  me  : 

To  set  at  rest  all  question  about  the  position  of  the  United  States  Colored 
Troops  at  Appomattox  on  the  morning  of  April  9  I  will  state  that  on  our  march 
to  Appomattox,  and  I  think  only  the  night  before  arriving,  when  the  Fifth 
Corps  headquarters  were  located  for  our  short  rest,  I  learned  that  Gen.  William 
Birney  (son  of  I.  G.  Birney,  who  ran  for  President  on  the  anti-slavery  ticket), 
with  his  command  of  colored  troops,  was  in  camp  not  far  off.  I  had  known 
him  in  1861  as  Major  of  the  4th  New  Jersey,  in  Kearny's  Brigade.  We  had  met 
last  in  Libby  Prison,  Aug.  11, 1862.  I  rode  over  to  Gen.  Birney's  quarters.  He 
was  very  glad  to  see  me,  and  said  he  had  applied  to  have  me  assigned  to  him  as 
Assistant  Adjutant-General,  knowing  that  I,  as  early  in  the  war  as  1861,  had 
advocated  making  soldiers  of  colored  men,  especially  of  the  slaves,  as  fast  as 
we  could  reach  and  recruit  them.  I  answered  that  I  would  gladly  join  him  as 
soon  as  orders  came  to  that  effect.  These  troops  were  then  in  advance  of  our 
corps,  and  arrived  on  the  Appomattox  field  ahead  and  were  thrown  out  on  the 
Lynchburg  road.  They  had  a  Regular  battery  with  them. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


LEE'S  ARMY  DISBANDED — THE  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC  STARTS  FOR 
HOME — THE  AUTHOR  ASSIGNED  TO  DUTY  IN  RICHMOND  —  JOINS 
THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  CORPS  —  DISTRIBUTION  OF  RATIONS  TO  THE 
POPULACE  OF  RICHMOND  —  ARRIVAL  OF  SHERMAN'S  ARMY — 
HALLECK'S  PROPOSED  REVIEW  INDEFINITELY  POSTPONED — THE 
TWENTY-FIFTH  CORPS  SAILS  FOR  TEXAS — CONCLUSION. 

HE  positions  of  the  two  armies  at  the 
moment  of  the  surrender  were  substan 
tially  as  follows :  The  Confederate  army 
was  in  position  covering  Apponiattox 
Courthouse  from  northeast  to  south 
west,  the  main  body,  consisting  of  Long- 
street's  and  Hill's  Corps,  facing  north 
east,  east  and  southeast,  and  Gordon's 
Corps  and  Fitz  Lee's  Cavalry  facing 
southwest  and  west.  The  Union  forces 
were  in  two  parts ;  the  main  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  under  the  direct  com 
mand  of  Gen.  Meade,  and  consisting  of 
the  Second  and  Sixth  Corps,  with  prob 
ably  some  part  of  the  Ninth,  was  east 
and  northeast  of  the  Courthouse,  and 
pressing  the  corps  of  Longstreet  and 
Hill.  [Hill  had  been  killed  when  the 
Petersburg  lines  were  forced,  but  his 
old  corps  still  bore  his  name.]  The 
left  wing,  nominally  under  Gen.  Ord 
(but  really  after  8  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing  under  the  direct  command  of  Gen.  Grant,  who  had  joined  us  by  way 
of  the  Walker  Church  Road),  composed  of  the  Fifth  Corps  under  Griffin, 
Foster's  and  Turner's  Divisions  of  the  Twenty-fourth  under  Gibbon,  and 
two  brigades  (Ulysses  Doubleday's  and  Woodward's)  of  Birney's  Division, 
of  the  Twenty-fifth,  together  with  Sheridan's  cavalry,  was  west  and  south 
west  of  the  Courthouse  and  barring  the  further  retreat  of  the  Confederate 
army.  In  a  word,  it  was  a  ' '  round  up. ' '  We  had  them  ' '  corraled  '  at  last ! 
There  was  some  fighting  west  and  south  of  the  Courthouse  between  7 
and  9  in  the  morning.  It  began  by  an  attempt  on  Gordon's  part  to  clear 
the  Lynchburg  Road  of  our  cavalry,  and  continued  for  perhaps  half  an 
hour  altogether  after  the  infantry  of  our  left  wing  began  to  deploy  to  sup- 


370 


THE  CAXXOXEEB. 


port  or  relieve  the  cavalry.  The  attack  on  the  cavalry  in  the  early  morn 
ing  had  been  quite  vigorous  and  of  sufficient  weight  to  make  them  give 
some  ground.  But  after  our  infantry  began  to  deploy  the  Rebels  seemed 
to  wilt,  and  though  there  was  considerable  firing  and  a  few  casualties  no 
determined  effort  was  made  to  force  any  part  of  our  infantry  line.  The 
formations  of  the  troops  of  the  left  wing  at  the  moment  of  the  surrender 
were  as  follows,  from  right  to  left,  it  being  understood  that  the  lines  were 
reversed  to  face  the  rear,  which,  on  getting  past  the  enemy  and  heading 
him  off,  had  now  become  our  front  :  Extreme  right,  southeast  from  the 
Courthouse,  Custer's  Cavalry  Division  ;  next  Devin's,  then  an  interval, 
which  two  brigades  of  Crawford's  Division  were  at  that  moment  deploying 
to  fill;  next,  Bartlett's  Division,  Fifth  Corps,  with  Chamberlain's  and 
Pearson's  Brigades  in  the  order  named,  and  Gregory's  in  support ;  Ayers's 
and  Crawford's  Divisions  massed  in  right  and  rear  of  Bartlett's ;  next, 
Turner's  and  Foster's  Divisions,  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Corps,  and  next 
Birney's  two  brigades  of  colored  troops  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Corps.  And 
finally,  refused  to  the  extreme  left  and  facing  the  Staunton  Road,  Crook's 
Cavalry  Division.  The  dispositions  of  the  main  Army  of  the  Potomac  east 
of  the  Courthouse  I  could  not  know  at  the  time,  and  have  never  seen  any 
description  of  them  by  competent  military  authority.  Hence  the  positions 
which  I  have  laid  down  for 
the  Second  and  Sixth  Corps 
are  based  upon  information 
from  comrades  who  were  in 
those  commands  at  that  time. 
The  Fifth  Corps  batteries 
were  all  up,  and  Vose  (com 
manding  our  old  Battery), 
Rogers  and  Mink  were  in 
battery  ready  for  action  when 
the  flag,  or  flags,  of  truce  ap 
peared.  I  say  "flags  of 
truce,"  because  there  has 
been  confusion  on  this  point. 
It  may  serve  to  dispel  some 
of  the  confusion  if  it  be  borne 
in  mind  that  more  than  one 
white  flag  was  shown  during 
the  morning.  Gen.  Hum 
phreys,  then  commanding  the 
Second  Corps,  speaks  in  his 


THE  WHITE  FLAG. 


book  of  a  flag  of  truce  being  shown  on  his  front  sometime  before  10  a.  m., 
accompanied  with  a  request  that  he  would  cease  pressing  the  Confederate 
skirmish  line,  which  he  declined  to  do  until  ordered  to  halt  by  Gen.  Meade. 
It  is  established  beyond  dispute  that  a  flag  of  truce  was  shown  in  front  of 
Custer's  cavalry  skirmishers  as  early  as  10  a,  m. ;  another  on  the  front  of 


THE  AUTHOR'S  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.  371 

Chamberlain's  Brigade,  of  the  Fifth  Corps;  another  on  Turner's  front, 
Twenty-fourth  Corps,  and  still  another  on  the  front  of  the  1st  Maine  Cav 
alry,  which  belonged  to  Irwin  Gregg's  Brigade  (Col.  Smith  in  command), 
of  Crook's  Division.  Thus  at  least  five  flags  of  truce  were  exhibited  about 
the  same  time  at  widely-separated  points  on  the  Union  front.  Humphreys 
was  coming  in  on  the  Farmville  Turnpike  east  or  a  little  north  of  east  from 
the  courthouse,  leading  the  column  of  the  main  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
the  Second  Corps  must  have  been  at  least  two  miles  from  the  nearest  troops 
of  Sheridan's  wing  of  the  army  west  and  southwest  from  the  Courthouse, 
while  the  distance  from  Chamberlain's  Brigade,  forming  the  right  of  the 
Fifth  Corps  line,  nearly  due  south  from  the  Courthouse  to  the  front  of  the 
1st  Maine  Cavalry,  holding  our  extreme  left  north  of  the  Lynchburg  Road 
and  north  of  west  from  the  town,  could  not  have  been  less  than  two  miles. 
For  information  enabling  me  to  locate  those  commands  which  I  could 
not  personally  observe,  I  am  indebted  to  comrades  who  have  kindly  written 
to  me,  or  given  me  verbal  information.  They  are  Gen.  Thomas  M.  Harris, 
commanding  the  West  Virginia  Brigade  of  Turner's  Division  ;  Gen.  Henry 
Capehart,  commanding  Cavalry  Brigade,  Custer's  Division  ;  Gen.  Lewis  A. 
Grant,  commanding  the  Vermont  Brigade  (wounded  in  the  head,  April  2, 
in  forcing  the  lines,  but  remained  in  command  till  the  end) ;  Gen.  Thomas 
W.  Hyde,  commanding  Bidwell's  Old  Brigade ;  Gen.  Thomas  F.  McCoy, 
commanding  107th  Pennsylvania,  Crawford's  Division ;  Gen.  Horatio  G. 
Wright,  commanding  Sixth  Corps ;  Gen.  Frank  Walker,  of  the  Second 
Corps  staff;  Gen.  Joseph  J.  Bartlett,  commanding  First  Division,  Fifth 
Corps;  Maj.  H.  W.  Clarke,  185th  New  York;  Maj.  George  B.  Halstead, 
Fifth  Corps  staff ;  Capt.  William  M.  Davis,  6th  Ohio  Cavalry  ;  Serg't  J.  L. 
Pray,  Signal  Corps ;  J.  F.  Butler,  Company  A,  155th  Pennsylvania ;  A.  C. 
Scott,  Company  E,  15th  West  Virginia ;  Lieut.  T.  R.  Lackey,  16th  Michi 
gan ;  E.  R.  Loomis,  Company  G,  185th  New  York;  Gilbert  Thompson, 
Regular  Engineer  Battalion,  Acting  Topographical  Draftsman;  Clarence 
E.  Johnson,  of  Mink's  Battery ;  Ord.  Serg't  Tom  Broderick,  of  Rawles's 
(Griffin's)  Battery ;  J.  N.  Waddell,  12th  West  Virginia ;  Col.  Horace  H. 
Walpole,  commanding  122d  New  York ;  Capt.  William  P.  Vose,  command 
ing  Stewart's  Battery  in  that  campaign;  Corp'l  Robert  A.  Shearer,  Company 
E,  llth  Pennsylvania  Veterans ;  Capt.  Joseph  F.  Carter,  3d  Maryland  Bat 
talion  ;  R.  E.  McBride,  191st  Pennsylvania  ;  Capt.  Julius  H.  Stewart,  Com 
pany  E,  45th  Colored  Troops  ;  Sewall  Pettingill,  Company  F,  llth  Maine  ; 
Surg.  N.  H.  Norris,  llth  Maine  ;  Clinton  Beckwith,  121st  New  York.  And, 
on  the  Confederate  side,  Gen.  Henry  Heth,  commanding  division  ;  Gen. 
Cadmus  M.  Wilcox,  commanding  division ;  Gen.  Charles  W.  Field,  com 
manding  division ;  Gen.  John  B.  Gordon,  commanding  army  corps ;  Gen. 
William  Mahone,  commanding  division  ;  Gen.  (now  Senator)  Matt.  W. 
Ransom,  commanding  brigade ;  Capt.  D.  H.  Buell,  Alabama ;  Capt.  Robert 
Evans,  Virginia  ;  James  Caperton,  of  Dement's  Maryland  Battery  ;  Joseph 
Ellison,  12th  Virginia ;  George  Dupre,  Washington  Artillery  ;  William  H. 
Haycock,  Company  H,  2d  Virginia  Cavalry ;  Frank  W.  Hume,  16th  Mis- 


THE  CANNONEER. 


NORTH  HALF  OF  DIAGRAM. 


DIAGRAM  OF  APPOMATTOX. 


373 


<*S^  ,'i'ST^#»;$%  i 


SOUTH  HALF  OF  DIAGRAM. 


374  THE  CANNONEER. 

sissippi,  and  several  others.  It  should  be  added  that  the  location  of  the 
troops  is  generally  based  upon  the  moment  of  the  surrender,  and  that  no  at 
tempt  can  be  made  to  follow  the  movements  of  individual  commands  in  the 
skirmishing  on  the  morning  of  April  9. 

Eeturning  to  the  Fifth  Corps :  I  went  up  the  road  leading  from  the 
station  past  the  Trent  House  to  the  village  looking  for  Gen.  Bartlett,  and 
was  informed  that  he  had  met  a  Rebel  General  in  the  edge  of  the  grove, 
in  Pearson's  front,  and  that  they  had  ridden  off  together  in  the  direction 
of  Appomattox  Courthouse.  And  I  also  recollect  seeing  a  young  Lieuten 
ant  of  the  185th  New  York  brought  back  mortally  wounded  while  the 
white  flag  was  fluttering.  I  have  since  been  informed  on  the  best  authority 
that  this  was  Lieut.  Hiram  Clark,  of  the  185th,  and  that  he  was  the  last 
man  killed  in  action  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

LEGEND  OF  MAP. 

A  A  — Main  Army  of  the  Potomac  (Second  and  Sixth  Corps). 

a  a—  Skirmish  line  of  the  Second  Corps  advancing  at  8  a.  m.  April  9. 

BBB  — Fifth  Corps.  Bl.  First  Division  (Bartlett's).  B2.  Second  Division 
(Ayres).  B3.  Third  Division  (Crawford).  The  dotted  lines  and  arrows  in  "  B3" 
show  Crawford's  advance  to  fill  gap  between  Bartlett  and  Devin  early  on  May  9. 

R's  —  Rawles's  Battery  (D,  G,  5th  Regulars). 

St  — Stewart's  Battery  (B,  4th  Regulars). 

M  — Mink's  Battery  (H,  Ist'New  York). 

J  — Johnson's  Battery  (D,  1st  New  York). 

R  — Rodgers's  Battery  (B,  1st  New  York),  shown  at  the  road  in  front  Le 
Grand's  House. 

C  T  — Colored  Troops.  Woodward's  and  Ulysses  Doubleday's  Brigades,  of 
Birney's  Division. 

C3— Foster's  Division,  Twenty-fourth  Corps  (in  position  as  stated  by  Gen. 
T.  M.  Harris). 

C  —  Turner's  Division,  Twenty-fourth  Corps. 

E  —  Elder's  Battery  (B,  1st  Regulars),  in  position.  According  to  the  state 
ments  of  comrades  who  were  near  it,  this  Battery  was  in  action  during  the 
morning  of  April  9,  and  fired  the  last  shot  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

1 1  — Main  Rebel  army  9  a.  m.  April  9. 

la  la  — Skirmish  line  of  Rebel  rear  guard  confronting  Humphreys's  ad 
vance. 

Ib  —  Rebel  artillery  parked. 

Ic  — Remains  of  Rebel  trains  parked. 

Id  — Munford's  Brigade  of  Rebel  cavalry,  most  of  which  surrendered. 

Fitz  Lee's  cavalry  escaped  at  daylight  on  the  9th.  The  double  dotted  line 
shows  the  route  by  which  this  force  escaped  toward  Lynchburg. 

r  r  r  — Rebel  batteries  in  position  between  8  and  9  a.  m.  April  9. 

The  infantry  force  marked  "  Cox  "  was  the  remnant  of  Rodes's  old  division, 
commanded  that  morning  by  Gen.  W.  R.  Cox,  of  North  Carolina.  The  cavalry 
force  marked  "Gary"  was  Mart.  Gary's  South  Carolina  Brigade,  which  came 
so  near  being  eaten  up  by  Custer's  Division,  and  is  shown  in  position  advanc 
ing,  when  the  men  refused  to  respect  the  flag  of  truce. 

The  dotted  lines  with  arrows  showing  direction,  indicate  the  routes  by 
which  Gens.  Grant  and  Sheridan,  respectively,  approached  the  Courthouse, 
Gen.  Grant  having  come  from  near  Walker's  Church  that  morning  and  Gen. 
Sheridan  starting  from  Wright's  House,  and  passing  through  the  line  of  the 
Twenty-fourth  Corps. 

f  f  f  f  —  Points  at  which  the  various  flags  of  truce  were  shown. 


CORSE'S  OLD  BRIGADE. 


375 


When  the  flag  of  truce  appeared  on  the  front  of  Chamberlain's  Bri 
gade  and  the  firing  ceased  Gen.  Bartlett  rode  out  toward  their  skirmish 
line,  attended  only  by  an  Orderly  or  two.  At  a  point  where  the  road  ran 
through  an  old  fence  he  encountered  a  Confederate  officer,  a  Captain  or 
Major,  I  think,  his  Orderly  said,  who  came  forward,  oifering  his  sword, 
and  saying  :  "I  surrender  the  remnant  of  Corse's  old  Virginia  Brigade  !  " 
Bartlett  replied:  "I  accept  the  surrender  of  the  remnant  of  Corse's 
Brigade,  but  I  have  no  use  for  that  sword,  and  I  don't  suppose  you  will 

have  any  further  use  for  it, 
either,  except  as  a  memento. 
You  had  better  put  it  in  its 
scabbard  and  keep  it  there  ! 
But  where  are  your  General 
officers  ? ' '  Just  at  that  min 
ute,  my  informant  said.  Gen. 
Gordon  appeared,  and  he  and 
Bartlett  rode  off  together  to 
ward  the  Courthouse.  I  did 
not  see  this,  but  relate  it  as 
it  was  told  to  me. 

Within  a  very  short  time 
after  the  white  rag  fluttered 
nearly  all  our  corps  and  di 
vision  commanders,  and  some 
of  the  brigade  commanders, 
went  over  to  the  Courthouse 
from  our  side  —  Sheridan, 
Griffin,  Gibbon,  Ord,  Custer, 
Bartlett  and  several  others 
— where  they  found  Gens. 
Grant,  Meade,  Humphreys,  Wright,  Seth  Williams,  and  I  do  not  know 
how  many  more,  but  I  should  say  30  or  40,  from  the  other  wing  of  the 
army,  who  had  come  up  on  the  other  (northeast)  side  of  the  Courthouse. 
Gen.  Griffin  now  sent  me  down  toward  Appoinattox  Station  to  hunt  up  the 
servants  and  pack-mules  of  the  corps  headquarters,  as  we  had  no  wagons, 
except  a  few  ambulances  and  carts,  and  instructed  me  to  "whoop  up  some 
thing  to  eat ! ' '  Riding  back  through  the  woods  along  the  Lynchburg  road} 
which  the  inhabitants  called  the  "South  road, ' '  I  soon  came  out  to  the  point 
where  the  flag  of  truce  was  first  shown.  The  woods  or  grove  was  full  of 
the  Johnnies,  who  had  stacked  their  arms  and  were  loafing  about  on  the 
ground.  Several  of  them,  seeing  that  I  came  from  the  direction  of  the 
Courthouse,  halted  me  to  inquire,  "Say,  Yank,  what's  the  news?  They 
say  Marse  Robert  has  surrendered.  Is  that  so  ?  "  I  told  them  that  to  the 
best  of  my  knowledge  it  was,  and  that  I  had  seen  several  of  our  officers 
and  theirs  going  into  a  house  near  the  Courthouse,  apparently  for  a  con 
ference. 


"Is  IT  TRUE  THAT  UNCLE  ROBERT  HAS 
SURRENDERED  ? " 


376  THE  CAXXOXEEK. 

When  I  got  to  our  line — as  the  two  lines  were  still  maintained  at  that 
time,  though  all  the  muskets  were  stacked  on  both  sides — our  fellows 
were  equally  desirous  to  learn  the  news.  I  gave  them  all  the  information 
I  had,  which  was  the  same  that  I  had  given  the  Johnnies.  Then  I  rode 
rapidly  back  to  find  the  headquarter  mules  and  whoop  up  the  negroes.  I 
found  the  headquarter  outfit  at  the  house  of  a  man  named  Trent,  about 
one  mile  northeast  of  Appomattox  Station,  the  distance  between  the  sta 
tion  and  the  Courthouse  being  about  two  and  a  half  or  three  miles.  After 
suitably  "whooping  up"  the  colored  servants  and  putting  the  "head 
quarter  supply  train ' '  —  consisting  of  four  pack  mules,  one  ambulance 
and  two  or  three  country  carts  —  in  motion,  and  impressing  the  General's 
cook  with  the  necessity  of  ' '  prompt  and  vigorous  action, ' '  I  rode  back  again 
toward  our  infantry  line.  By  this  time  it  was  12:30  or  maybe  1  o'clock. 
On  our  line  —  Fifth  and  Twenty-fourth  Corps,  and  the  cavalry  southwest 
and  west  of  the  Courthouse — the  picket  lines  still  faced  each  other,  though 
"at  rest" — and,  as  it  proved,  at  rest  forever  —  still  faced  each  other  in  the 
groves  and  fields  between  the  road  leading  to  Appomattox  Station  and  the 
main  Lynchburg  Pike,  this  ground  forming  the  Le  Grand,  Inge,  Trent  and 
Wright  farms.  About  half  way  between  the  station  and  the  Courthouse, 
just  after  you  pass  Inge's  house  going  toward  the  Courthouse,  the  Prospect 
Road  forks  with  the  one  I  was  on,  and  here  were  four  of  ttie  Fifth  Corps 
batteries — Mink's  and  Stewart's  in  battery  (under  Vose)  and  Rawles's  and 
Johnson's  in  column.  Battery  B,  1st  New  York,  Capt.  Bob  Rogers,  was 
also  up,  but  had  gone  to  the  extreme  right  of  our  line  with  Crawford. 

During  the  forced  marches  our  batteries  had  a  tough  time,  and 
their  horses  did  not  look  much  like  the  sleek,  well-fed  animals  that  had  so 
gaily  pulled  out  from  Fort  Dushane  the  morning  of  March  29.  After 
leaving  them  on  the  White  Oak  Road  the  morning  of  April  1  we  did  not 
see  them  again  until  they  arrived  at  Jetersville  the  night  of  the  4th,  and 
leaving  them  again  at  Jetersville  they  did  not  come  up  until  we  halted 
at  Prospect  Station.  Capt.  Vose  has  personally  informed  me  that  when 
Battery  B  left  Jetersville  it  reported  temporarily  to  Custer,  and  served  with 
his  cavalry  division  during  the  6th  and  7th,  being  in  action  at  Sailor's 
Creek,  but  suffering  no  casualties.  The  Battery  was  in  action  March  29, 
30  and  31,  and  April  6.  Its  casualties  were  one  officer  and  six  men  killed 
or  wounded,  and  13  horses  killed  or  disabled.  Gen.  Wainwright,  in  his 
official  report,  says : 

The  marches  of  the  batteries  during  these  operations  were  the  most  severe 
ever  known  in  the  campaigns  of  this  army.  The  roads  were  for  the  most  part 
deep  with  mud,  and  the  Fifth  Corps,  operating  most  of  the  time  with  the  cav 
alry,  constantly  traversed  the  country  byroads  in  marches  averaging  from  20 
to  30  miles  a  day.  Though  the  wants  of  the  campaign  has  called  for  but  little 
use  of  artillery  in  action,  the  rapid  marching  and  bad  roads  have  necessitated 
incessant  labor  on  the  part  of  the  battery  officers,  and  still  more  on  the  part  of 
those  of  my  staff,  to  all  of  whom  I  am  indebted  for  valuable  services  rendered. 
Following  in  support  of  the  cavalry  this  corps  has  done  little  in  the  way  of 
picking  up  abandoned  guns  and  material.  At  the  battle  of  Five  Forks  the 
united  corps  captured  five  three-inch  regular  guns  of  United  States  mauu- 


THE  LAST  CAXXOX  SHOT.  377 

facture  and  throe  caissons ;  these  guns  I  had  hauled  to  Warren  Station  and 
turned  over  to  the  Quartermaster  there  for  transportation  to  City  Point.  The 
caissons  were  destroyed.  On  the  3d  of  April  three  light  12-pound  guns  were 
found  abandoned  in  a  swamp  near  Namoziue  Creek,  which  I  hauled  up  to  Gen. 
Sheridan's  headquarters  and  turned  over  to  his  Quartermaster. 

It  did  me  a  great  deal  of  good  to  see  these  old  and  famous  batteries 
"in  at  the  death"  after  their  four  years  of  battle;  but  I  felt  sorry  that 
Capt.  Charley  Phillips  and  his  equally  good  and  famous  old  5th  Massachu 
setts  could  not  have  been  in  line  with  the  Fifth  Corps  at  Appomattox,  it 
having  been  detached  and  put  in  the  reserve  when  we  left  the  trenches  on 
the  23th  of  March. 

The  question  as  to  what  battery  fired  the  last  shot  in  action  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  is  also  interesting.  My  natural  interest  in  that  arm 
of  the  service  has  led  me  to  investigate  this  question,  and  I  have  become 
satisfied  that  the  honor  belongs  to  Battery  B,  of  the  1st  Regulars,  then 
commanded  by  Capt.  Sam  Elder.  There  is  cumulative  testimony  from 
various  sources  on  this  point.  The  most  direct  and  positive  is  that  of 
Comrade  Jacob  Miller,  who  was  a  detached  volunteer  in  that  battery  from 
the  2d  Pennsylvania  Heavy  Artillery.  He  says  : 

After  a  forced  march  of  35  miles  we  were  going  into  action  at  a  gallop,  for 
we  could  hear  the  crack  of  the  muskets  in  our  front  and  the  yell  of  the  John 
nies  as  they  came  up  after  our  cavalry  who  were  falling  back.  We  came  to  a 
small  clearing  in  the  woods  on  the  right  of  the  Lynchburg  Road,  and  the  lead 
ing  brigade  of  Foster's  Division  formed  line  in  this  clearing,  and  charged  into 
the  woods  in  front  of  them  with  a  cheer.  Our  battery  unlimbered  in  this 
clearing.  This  position  we  held  until  the  infantry  got  through  the  woods, 
when  we  limbered  up  and  again  took  the  road  and  followed  our  charging  col 
umn,  passing  limber  chests  and  caissons  that  the  enemy  had  abandoned  and 
set  fire  under  them  to  blow  them  up.  After  coming  up  with  the  infantry  we 
unlimbered  again  on  the  left  of  the  road  and  gave  the  retreating  enemy  time 
fuse  shell  by  piece  from  the  right  until  ordered  to  cease  firing.  Returning  to 
Richmond  after  the  surrender,  officers  and  others  would  come  to  see  the  bat 
tery  and  gun  (No.  3)  that  fired  the  last  shot  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  against 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  on  the  morning  of  April  9, 18(55.  But  justice 
compels  me  to  say  that  ours  was  not  the  only  battery  engaged  on  the  Lynch 
burg  Road  that  morning.  While  we  were  holding  our  first  position  in  the  clear 
ing  Battery  A,  of  the  5th  Regulars,  went  into  action  on  our  left  and  opened 
into  the  woods,  but  only  fired  two  or  three  shots.  After  the  battery  was  dis 
mounted  in  October,  1865,  gun  No.  3  was  boxed  up  by  Evan  Evans,  Ordnance 
Sergeant  at  Richmond,  and  as  he  told  me  was  sent  to  West  Point,  as  the  gun 
that  fired  the  last  shot  on  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia.  I  would  like  to 
know  what  became  of  it. 

But  if  Elder's  Battery  did  fire  the  last  cannon  shot  in  action,  Gen. 
Griffin  and  his  staff,  without  doubt,  got  the  benefit  of  the  last  musket  shot 
from,  the  enemy.  About  half  way  between  the  Trent  House  and  the  village 
there  was  a  small  building,  which  had  been  used  as  a  blacksmith  shop.  As 
soon  as  the  flag  of  truce  appeared  the  General,  accompanied  by  Col.  Fred 
Locke.  Maj .  George  B.  Halstead,  Capt.  Schermerhorn  and  several  Orderlies, 
rode  out  in  front  of  the  left  of  Chamberlain's  skirmish  line,  and  had  got  a 
little  beyond  this  shop,  when  about  a  dozen  shots  were  fired  from  the  grove 
on  the  right,  just  across  Plain  Eun  from  the  Sears  House,  distant  from 


378  THE  CANNONEER. 

the  group  about  60  or  70  rods.  The  balls  zipped  close,  and  Gen.  Griffin 
said,  ' '  the ,  do  they  mean  to  murder  us  after  they  have  sur 

rendered  ?  "  He  then  proposed  to  go  over  to  Pearson's  position  and,  as  he 
expressed  it,  "turn  the  Old  Third  (Bartlett's  old  Brigade)  loose  for  a  few 
minutes  ! "  But  before  he  could  execute  this  purpose  all  firing  ceased,  and 
the  General  and  his  staff  proceeded  up  the  road  from  the  blacksmith  shop 
to  the  village,  where  Gen.  Grant  was  just  arriving.  Strange  sensations 
possessed  the  breasts  of  our  men  in  their  bivouacs  that  afternoon  of  the  9th 
of  April.  It  was  difficult  to  realize  that  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
had  surrendered  !  Yet  it  was  a  fact,  and  when  we  contemplated  it,  hud 
dling  about  our  little  fires  and  eking  out  what  little  was  left  of  our  rations, 
every  thought  turned  toward  peace  and  home.  During  the  next  few  days 
while  the  armies  remained  there  the  soldiers  fraternized  somewhat,  but 
that  day  comparatively  few  of  the  Rebels  visited  us  ;  in  fact,  it  was  the 
policy  during  the  afternoon  and  night  of  the  9th  to  keep  the  troops  of  both 
armies  in  their  respective  lines.  The  few  Rebels  who  made  their  way  to 
us  were  cordially  received  and  entertained  as  hospitably  as  our  own  de 
pleted  resources  would  admit.  In  some  cases  excitement  and  the  novelty 
of  the  situation  conquered  fatigue,  and  the  boys  kept  making  coffee,  toast 
ing  pork  and  bacon,  singing  and  skylarking  till  a  late  hour.  But  tired 
nature  asserted  herself  with  most  of  them,  and  by  10  o'clock  both  camps 
were  quiet.  As  for  myself,  I  had  never  worked  so  hard  or  so  many  hours 
a  day,  not  having  had  an  average  of  four  hours  of  sleep  in  every  24  from 
March  28  to  April  9.  For  the  last  five  days  I  had  to  take  care  of  two 
horses — the  one  I  rode  and  the  little  mare  besides,  as  I  did  not  like  to 
trust  the  latter  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  headquarter  cavalry  escort,  a 
company  of  the  4th  Pennsylvania.  The  result  was  that  when  the  first 
flush  of  exultation  at  the  surrender  was  over  I  collapsed  like  a  wet  rag  and 
could  have  slept  on  top  of  a  picket  fence. 

After  stacking  their  arms  and  parking  their  guns  the  men  of  the  Con 
federate  army  were  rationed,  by  order  of  Gen.  Grant,  as  soon  as  our  trains 
could  get  up.  Some  rations  may  have  been  distributed  about  dark  on  the 
9th,  but  full  supplies  were  not  up  before  noon  on  the  10th  for  either  army. 
The  railroad  train  from  Lynchburg,  which  Sheridan  had  captured  at  Ap- 
pomattox  Station  on  the  8th,  was  supposed  to  contain  80,000  rations  as  that 
term  was  understood  by  the  Confederates,  which  at  that  time  meant  half  a 
pound  of  bacon  and  a  pint  of  cornmeal  per  man.  This  train  also  had  one 
carload  of  clothing,  with  some  boots  and  shoes.  Some  writers  speak  of  this 
train  as  having  been  destroyed.  This  is  an  error,  no  doubt  due  to  con 
founding  it  with  a  wagon  train  captured  at  Burkesville  Junction  on  the  7th, 
which  was  destroyed.  But  the  railroad  train  from  Lynchburg,  after  its 
capture  at  Appomattox  Station  by  the  cavalry,  was  sent  on  down  the  rail 
road  to  Evergreen  Station,  and  was  there  when  the  infantry  came  up  late 
at  night.  A  good  many  "flakes"  of  bacon  were  thrown  out  of  the  cars, 
and  many  of  the  infantrymen  helped  themselves,  but  we  could  not  use  the 
cornmeal,  for  want  of  time  to  cook  it.  I  believe  what  was  left  of  that  train- 


STRENGTH  OF  THE  ARMY.  37& 

load  of  supplies  was  afterward  issued  to  Lee's  troops.     But  it  was  not  de 
stroyed. 

I  do  not  think  there  was  any  considerable  shifting  of  positions  by  the 
troops  of  the  various  commands  of  either  army  after  noon  on  the  9th  of  April 
until  they  started  to  leave  the  place.  Those  who  happened  to  be  in  low  or 
wet  ground  at  the  time  hostilities  ceased  moved  to  higher  points.  Of  course 
the  Sixth  Corps  and  part  of  the  cavalry  moved  off  immediately  toward  Dan 
ville,  while  the  rest  of  the  cavalry  followed  Fitz  Lee  toward  Lynchburg. 
But,  with  these  exceptions,  all  the  troops,  Federal  and  Confederate,  biv 
ouacked  substantially  in  the  positions  they  held  at  the  moment  of  the  sur 
render  until  they  finally  left  the  field  to  take  up  the  line  of  march  for  home. 
One  of  our  historians,  who  is  generally  considered  accurate,  states  that 
''Gen.  Grant  had  under  his  command  about  124,000  men  when  Lee  sur 
rendered,  ' '  etc.  Now,  Gen.  Grant  had  ' '  under  his  command ' '  a  good  many 
more  than  "124,000  men"  at  that  time,  because  he  was  in  command  of  all 
the  armies  of  the  Union.  But  the  slipshod  phrase  above  quoted  would  carry 
the  idea  that  there  were  124 ,000  present  at  Appomattox  ;  in  fact,  that  seems 
to  be  the  commonly  received  notion.  It  is,  however,  an  absurd  error.  The 
last  field  return  before  the  surrender  was  that  of  March  20,  1865.  In  order 
to  get  at  the  real  strength  present  at  Appomattox  it  will  be  necessary  to 
take  only  those  divisions  which  were  actually  present,  and  then  deduct  the 
losses  of  the  battles  during  the  pursuit  of  Lee  and  the  assaults  on  the  lines 
on  the  south  front  of  Petersburg. 

There  were  present  at  Appomattox  the  nine  divisions  of  the  Second, 
Fifth  and  Sixth  Corps,  two  divisions  of  the  Twenty-fourth,  one  division  of 
the  Ninth  (some  distance  back)  and  part  of  a  division  of  the  Twenty-fifth 
Corps,  with  three  divisions  of  cavalry  under  Sheridan  and  two  small  bri 
gades  from  the  Army  of  the  James  under  MacKenzie. 
The  strength  and  losses  of  these  were  as  follows  : 

Strength.      Loss. 

Second  Corps 11,930  1,833 

Fifth  Corps 11,600  2,562 

Sixth  Corps 10,230  1,529 

Ninth  Corps  (one  division) 4,480  561 

Twenty-fifth  Corps  (detachment)  estimated 3,000  84 

Twenty-fourth  Corps  (two  divisions) 8,114  1,008 

Cavalry  (Sheridan's) 10,212          1,472 

Cavalry  (MacKenzie's) 1,830  '82 

Totals 61,396  9,131 

The  strength  of  the  organizations  which  remained  at  Petersburg.  Rich 
mond,  etc.,  was  approximately  30,000,  and  their  losses,  including  the  capt 
ure  and  recapture  of  Fort  Stedman  and  forcing  the  lines  of  Petersburg,  are 
stated  at  1,627.  But  we  are  not  dealing  with  these  now.  The  figures  given 
for  the  organizations  present  at  Appomattox  are  taken  from  the  "present 
for  duty  equipped ' '  of  the  report  of  March  20.  In  our  system  of  field  re 
turns  we  always  had  three  columns,  thus:  1.  "Present  for  Duy."  2. 
' '  Present  for  Duty  Equipped. "  3.  "  Aggregate  Present. ' ' 


380  THE  CAXXOXEER. 

The  ' '  present  for  duty  equipped ' '  meant  the  force  that  was  available 
at  the  moment  for  line  of  battle.  The  '  *  present  for  duty ' '  included  de 
tachments,  details,  etc. ;  in  short,  all  those  accounted  for  as  doing  duty. 
The  "aggregate  present"  represented  all  whose  names  were  borne  on  the 
rolls  of  that  date,  no  matter  where  they  were  or  what  they  might  be  doing. 

It  is  probable  that  the  "present  for  duty  equipped"  might  have  been 
somewhat  increased  between  March  20  and  March  28,  when  active  oper 
ations  began.  At  Five  Forks  (after  the  battle)  Gen.  Griffin  estimated  that 
he  had  9, 200  muskets  in  the  Fifth  Corps,  which,  with  the  usual  proportion 
of  officers  added,  would  make  in  the  neighborhood  of  9,800. 

The  Fifth  Corps  suffered  little  loss  after  April  1 ,  except  men  falling  out 
from  exhaustion,  and  these  were  not  numerous.  The  losses  of  the  corps  in 
the  battles  of  Quaker  Road,  Gravelly  Run,  White  Oak  Road,  (March  29, 
30  and  31,)  and  Five  Forks  (April  1),  were  as  follows  : 

Killed.  Wounded.  Missing.  Total. 

Bartlett's  Division 108              630  34  772 

Ay res's  Division 75              453  350  877 

Crawford's  Division 88               652  155  895 

Artillery  (five  batteries) 5                13  ..  18 

Totals 276  1,747  539  2,562 

Add  this  to  the  9,800  left  after  Five  Forks  and  the  total  will  be  12,380, 
or  780  more  than  the  "present  for  duty  equipped  "  report  of  March  20.  It 
is  probable  that  the  Fifth  Corps  was  increased  in  its  effective  strength  by 
about  that  number  of  men  returning  to  their  commands  between  March 
20  and  the  beginning  of  operations.  If  we  apply  the  same  ratio  to  the 
other  commands  it  would  give  the  Second  Corps  about  12,800,  less  1,833 
lost  in  action,  or  10,967  net  present  at  Appomattox  ;  the  Sixth  Corps  about 
11,000,  less  1,529  lost  in  action,  or  about  9,470  net  present ;  the  Fifth  Corps 
about  12,380,  less  2,562  lost  in  action,  or  about  9,800  net  present;  the 
division  of  the  Ninth  Corps  about  4,200  ;  the  two  divisions  of  the  Twenty- 
fourth  Corps  about  7,500  ;  the  detachment  of  the  Twenty-fifth  about  2,000, 
and  the  cavalry,  altogether,  about  11,000. 

Thus  we  would  have  actually  present  at  Appomattox  Courthouse  April 
9  about  as  follows,  after  deducting  all  losses  in  the  preceding  combats : 

Second  Corps  (about) 11,000 

Fifth  Corps  (about) ! 9,800 

Sixth  Corps  (about) 9,500 

Ninth  Corps  (detachment) 4,200 

Twenty-fourth  Corps  (two  divisions) 7,500 

Twenty-fifth  Corps  (detachment) 3,000 

Cavalry 11,000 

Total 56,000 

I  am  aware  that  these  figures  fall  far  below  the  current  popular  belief 
^s  to  the  force  actually  present  at  Appomattox.  The  return  above  referred 
to  gives  the  "aggregate  present "  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  81,000  (of 
which  17,740  are  charged  to  the  Fifth  Corps  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  not  more 
than  13,500  men  at  the  maximum  left  the  trenches  under  Warren,  en  route 


THE  PAROLE  LISTS.  381 

for  Appomattox,  March  29,  1865);  that  of  the  Army  of  the  James  at  38,000 
and  that  of  Sheridan's  Cavalry,  two  divisions  (Army  of  the  Shenandoah),  at 
8,000,  without  counting  the  odd  hundreds.  This  is  a  total  of  127,000. 
But,  as  before  stated,  it  included  everybody  on  the  rolls,  and  was  far  in 
excess  of  the  number  "present  for  duty  equipped. "  There  was  afield 
return  made  April  10,  which,  I  have  understood  from  persons  employed  in 
collating  the  war  records,  shows  a  force  of  about  62,000  ' '  present  for  duty 
equipped"  at  Appomattox,  but  that  it  includes  some  commands  that  got 
no  farther  than  Faruiville  and  Burkesville  Junction  !  Whereas  I  have  en 
deavored  to  give  the  strength  only  of  those  commands  which  were  within 
gunshot  of  the  Confederate  army  when  it  surrendered. 

Maj.  E.  C.  Dawes,  of  the  53d  Ohio,  previously  quoted  as  standard 
authority  on  military  statistics  of  the  civil  war,  courteously  furnishes  for 
my  use  the  following  compilation  from  Confederate  official  and  semi-official 
sources  of  the  strength  of  Lee's  army  in  its  final  campaign.  By  the 
monthly  return  of  Feb.  20,  1865,  the  last  on  file  in  the  War  Department, 
the  strength  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  was : 

For  Duty.  Aggregate 


Forces  on  returns  of  Feb.  30  in  Army  of  Northern 

Virginia  and  Department  of  Richmond 61,575  76,174 

Artillery  of  Second  Corps  (estimated) 1,600  1,900 

Rosser's  cavalry 2,000  2,500 

Archer's  Brigade,  Junior  Reserves 1,000  1,200 

Naval  Brigade 1,500  1,800 

Richmond  local,  etc 600  750 

Total 68,275  84,324 

The  authorities  quoted  by  Maj.  Dawes  are  as  follows  :  Early 's  "  Last 
Year  of  the  War,"  page  122  et  seq.;  Morris's  History  of  North  Carolina, 
volume  2,  page  283,  note.  These  extracts  are  from  a  paper  by  McHenry 
Howard,  Acting  Assistant  Inspector-General  of  G.  W.  C.  Lee's  Division, 
published  in  supplement  to  Southern  Magazine  May,  1874.  Rebel  War 
Clerk's  Diary,  volume  2,  page  445. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  10th  there  was  a  call  at  the  various  corps 
headquarters  for  clerks  to  report  to  Adjt.-Gen.  Williams  for  special  duty 
connected  with  the  parole  lists  and  captured  material  of  Lee's  army. 
Owing  to  the  rapidity  of  the  march  the  headquarter  wagons  and  most  of 
the  regular  clerical  force  were  "  in  arrears,"  so  that  a  force  of  clerks  had 
to  be  improvised  on  the  spot  to  attend  to  the  writing  and  copying  which 
was  immediately  incident  to  the  surrender.  Of  these  two  were  sent  from 
the  Fifth  Corps  —  Hawley  and  myself — and  we  were  assigned  to  make 
copies  of  the  regimental  and  company  parole  lists  and  camp  and  garrison 
equipage  returns  as  they  came  in,  our  particular  province  being  Wilcox's 
Division,  of  Hill's  Corps.  This  was  interesting  duty,  and  its  details  made 
a  profound  impression  on  my  mind.  It  struck  me  that  the  whole  business 
was  very  irregular.  In  some  cases  there  would  be  nominal  lists  of  com 
panies  "  present  for  duty  "  without  names,  signed  only  by  company  com 
manders,  frequently  a  Sergeant.  These  struck  me  as  being  queer  paroles, 


382  THE   CANNONEER, 

because  I  could  not  see  how  the  men  were  to  be  identified  in  case  they 
should  break  their  paroles.  However,  we  all  presumed  that  Gen.  Grant 
knew  what  he  was  about.  The  work  of  collecting  and  accounting  for  the 
surrendered  material  of  Lee's  army  was  not  very  extensive.  They  stacked 
about  11,000  or  12,000  muskets  and  parked  about  60  or  65  serviceable 
guns.  Their  trains  had  nearly  all  been  captured  or  destroyed  in  the  oper 
ations  of  Five  Forks,  Dinwiddie  Courthouse,  Sailor's  Creek,  Jetersville, 
Farmville  and  Burke's  Junction.  The  First  Division  of  the  Fifth  Corps 
had  the  honor  of  being  assigned  to  take  charge  of  the  captured  material  of 
Lee's  army,  and  kept  charge  of  it  until  it  was  all  properly  inventoried  and 
turned  over  to  the  staff  departments  to  which  its  different  elements  per 
tained.  They  took  all  their  horses  and  mules  home  with  them,  together 
with  what  harness  they  had  and  many  of  their  carts,  which  they  said 
were  private  property.  I  went  over  where  their  guns  were  parked. 
The  remnants  of  15  or  16  batteries  only  were  represented,  and  they  had 
all  the  way  from  two  to  five  guns  in  a  battery.  Sometimes  they  had  a  cais 
son  for  every  two  guns,  sometimes  only  one  for  a  whole  battery,  and  some 
times  none  at  all,  but  carried  all  their  ammunition  in  the  gun-limbers.  But 
not  a  third  of  the  artillery  they  had  when  they  left  their  trenches  was  sur 
rendered  at  Appomattox.  The  rest  of  it  had  been  captured  or  destroyed  in 
the  fights  from  Gravelly  Run  to  Appomattox  or  abandoned.  Their  guns 
were  a  miscellaneous  lot,  embracing  Parrott  rifles  (of  which  they  had  made 
a  very  good  imitation  in  their  Tredegar  Iron  Works),  light  twelves,  together 
with  a  12-pound  iron  howitzer  of  their  own  make,  which  was  modeled  much 
like  the  12-pounder  Napoleon.  It  appeared  that  they  had  these  different 
guns  mixed  up  in  the  same  battery  —  frequently  two  and  sometimes  three 
.  patterns  being  used  together.  They  had  little  or  no  artillery  ammunition 
left,  but  they  surrendered  a  considerable  supply  of  small-arm  cartridges, 
much  of  which  was  made  in  England.  Their  infantry  muskets  were  mainly 
the  English  Enfield,  though  I  saw  numbers  of  old  Harper's  Ferry  percussion 
muskets  that  had  been  rifled.  I  was  informed  that  these  had  been  used  by 
the  battalions  of  reserves  which  had  gone  with  Lee's  main  army  when  Rich 
mond  was  evacuated ;  but  the  standard  weapon  of  the  regular  Confederate 
infantry  appeared  to  be  the  Enfield,  which  was  a  trifle  longer  and  heavier 
than  our  Springfield,  and  carried  a  trifle  larger  ball.  I  believe  that  it  was 
generally  conceded  by  ordnance  experts  that  the  Enfield  rifle  of  that  day  was 
considerably  more  effective  than  our  Springfield,  though  not  quite  so  handy. 

The  country  about  Appomattox  Courthouse  was  one  of  the  few  regions 
of  Virginia  that  had  never  been  visited  by  our  troops — not  even  the 
cavalry  —  prior  to  these  final  operations.  But  they  had  in  two  weeks  fully 
made  up  for  the  immunity  of  four  years,  and  the  inhabitants  told  us  that 
in  the  closing  days  of  the  campaign  their  own  troops  had  plundered  them 
worse  than  ours. 

I  had  a  cousin  about  seven  years  my  senior.  He  had  graduated  from 
college  in  1858,  and  had  gone  to  Alabama  that  Fall  to  be  professor  in 
a  seminary.  He  had  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army  in  the  Spring  of 


A  REBEL  COUSIN.  383 

1861,  and  in  1863  the  folks  at  home  got  a  rumor  that  he  had  been  killed. 
But  running  over  these  "Rebel  company  parole  lists"  1  suddenly  came 
upon  his  name  signed  to  one  of  them — from  an  Alabama  regiment  of  Wil- 
cox's  Division.  This  was  a  glad  surprise,  if  I  should  happen  to  find  him, 
which  I  made  up  my  uiiud  to  do.  Well,  to  cut  a  long  story  short,  1  found 
him.  He  was  rugged  and  stalwart,  but  "  Rebel  to  the  backbone."  He  wa.s 
glad  to  see  me.  We  talked  over  old  times.  I  told  him  the  news  of  the 
family,  and  much  other  neighborhood  gossip.  This  cousin  was  a  fair  speci 
men  of  what  was  left  of  Lee's  army  in  its  "last  ditch. "  He  looked  around 
at  our  swarming  legions  in  a  cool,  half  contemptuous  way,  and  then  at  the 
ragged,  battered  remnant  of  his  own  comrades  with  ill-concealed  pride  and 
exultation. 

"You  were  always  a  fair-minded  boy,"  he  would  say  to  me;  "now 
just  look  on  this  picture  and  then  on  that,  and  tell  me  what  you  think 
down  in  the  bottom  of  your  heart.  What  do  you  suppose  would  have  l>eeu 
the  result  of  this  war  if  we  'Johnnies,'  as  you  call  us,  had  had  your  equip 
ment  and  your  supplies?  I  have  been  in  this  army  ever  since  the  Capital 
was  moved  from  Montgomery  to  Richmond,  and  for  the  last  three  years,  at 
least,  these  men  that  you  see  here  have  not  been  much  better  clad  than  they 
are  now,  and  they  never  had  such  a  feast  in  their  lives  as  when  Gen.  Grant 
gave  them  some  of  your  rations  yesterday.  This  army  has  lost  more  men 
from  cold,  hunger,  and  every  misery  and  privation  that  comes  from  insutfi- 
cient  clothing  and  food  than  from  your  lead  and  iron  twice  over.  Many  of 
these  men  have  done  duty  in  the  trenches  all  Winter  barefooted,  and  with 
out  a  sign  of  an  overcoat,  while  you  all  look  fat  and  comfortable.  I  tell 
you  if  we  had  had  proper  food  and  clothing  this  thing  wouldn't  be  happen 
ing  here  now  as  it  is.  There  would  have  been  another  kind  of  a  settlement, 
and  it  would  have  taken  place  a  great  deal  nearer  Kinghamton  than  this, 
and  a  year  sooner,  besides." 

This  conversation  fairly  represents  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the 
soldiers  and  subaltern  officers  of  the  Confederate  army  at  Appomattox. 
The  things  they  most  feared  were  the  negro  problem  and  the  confiscation 
of  property.  Some  who  lived  in  the  mountain  regions  where  there  had 
always  been  a  large  Unionist  element  Apprehended  persecution  from  their 
loyal  neighbors.  As  a  rule,  the  "  fraternization  "  between  them  and  us, 
alxnit  which  so  many  rhapsodies  have  heen  written,  was  pretty  cool  and 
formal.  They  were  courteous  when  we  visited  their  bivouacs,  but  that 
was  all,  and  they  did  not  visit  us  much  in  return.  As  fast  as  the  formali 
ties  of  paroling  them  were  got  through  with  and  they  could  be  supplied 
with  a  few  days'  rations  to  start  them  on  their  journey  they  slipped  away, 
sadly  and  silently,  to  seek,  in  most  cases,  desolated  homes,  which  they 
would  have  to  rebuild  from  the  ground  up. 

Leaving  Appomattox  the  Fifth  Corps  marched  leisurely  to  Nottoway 
Courthouse,  where  it  halted  for  several  days  in  expectation  of  orders  to  go 
down  into  North  Carolina  to  the  aid  of  Sherman.  Hut  when  the  news  came 
of  negotiations  for  the  surrender  of  Joe  Johnston's  army  the  corps  started 


384  THE  CANNONEER. 

for  Petersburg  en  route  to  Washington.  During  this  stay  at  Nottoway 
Courthouse  Gen.  Griffin  decided  to  send  on  to  Washington  the  11  battle- 
flags  captured  by  the  Fifth  Corps  at  Five  Forks.  Maj.  Halstead  was 
selected  for  this  honorable  duty,  and  he  was  supported  by  an  escort  com 
posed  of  the  men  who  had  captured  them  —  all  enlisted  men,  except  one, 
if  memory  serves  me.  Doubtless  the  reason  of  Maj.  Halstead 's  selection 
was  the  fact  that  he  was  the  only  one  of  the  corps  General  staff  wounded 
in  the  campaign.  This  occurred  at  the  White  Oak  Road,  when  the  gallant 
Major  was  with  Gen.  Warren  under  heavy  fire  trying  to  "whoop  up" 
Crawford's  men,  and  where  Charley  Mink  "got  in  his  fine  work,"  before 
mentioned.  I  wanted  to  attend  the  gallant  Major  on  this  mission,  but 
Gen.  Griffin  refused,  saying  no  one  could  go  except  those  who  had  captured 
flags.  Maj.  Halstead  has  written  me  the  following  account  of  this  affair  : 

There  were,  I  think,  11  flags.  They  (and  the  captors)  were  received  by 
President  Lincoln  in  Secretary  Stanton's  office  in  the  presence  also  of  several 
Senators,  Representatives  and  other  distinguished  men.  Among  the  last  I  re 
member  was  Prof.  Joseph  Henry,  then  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute  (since  de 
ceased),  from  whom  I  had  received  instruction  years  before  when  he  was  pro 
fessor  of  natural  philosophy  at  Nassau  Hall,  N.  J.  The  men  were  all  given  20 
days1  furlough.  I  was  offered  a  leave  of  absence,  but  preferred  returning  to 
duty,  and  soon  after  marched  with  the  corps  to  Washington.  Nothing  of  inter 
est  occurred,  except  the  graceful  compliment  extended  to  Gen.  Warren,  then 
in  Petersburg,  Va.,by  Gen.  Griffin,  by  marching  the  old  Fifth  past  the  quar 
ters  of  Gen.  Warren,  who,  with  his  family  and  Aids,  came  onto  the  sidewalk  to 
receive  the  marching  salute,  and  he  must  have  known  from  the  kindly  demon 
strations  of  officers  and  men  that  the  harshness  and  injustice  to  which  he  had 
been  subjected  had  only  given  him  a  warmer  corner  in  their  hearts. 

An  incident  occurred  in  the  Battery  in  this  camp,  not  of  general  his 
torical  import,  but  of  much  concern  to  the  boys.  This  was  the  death  of  a 
colt,  who  was  born  in  the  camp  near  Fredericksburg  in  1862.  She  was  con 
sidered  as  "everybody's  colt,"  though  belonging,  I  believe,  to  the  Captain, 
who  was  very  desirous  to  have  her  grow  up  and  see  service  as  a  "  child  of 
the  Battery."  She  was  a  smart  little  thing,  and  the  boys  had  taught  her 
many  tricks.  The  Appomattox  campaign  had  been  too  much  for  her,  and 
when  she  died  the  boys  buried  her  "with  the  honors  of  war,"  firing  their 
revolvers  over  her  grave. 

On  arriving  in  Richmond  I  was  directed  to  report  to  Gen.  Weitzel's 
headquarters.  I  reported  to  Gen.  Weitzel  in  person.  Richmond  was  under 
martial  law,  and  Gen.  Weitzel  had  complete  control  of  the  place,  though 
Gen.  Shepley,  who  had  been  Provost  Marshal  General  at  Fort  Monroe,  was 
known  as  "Military  Governor."  My  duties  were  temporarily  in  connection 
with  the  posting  of  ' '  safeguards  ' '  over  the  houses  and  property  of  the  in 
habitants  and  keeping  a  record  of  the  men  so  detailed,  and  to  note  any  com 
plaints  that  might  be  made  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they  discharged  their 
duties.  But  there  were  not  many  complaints. 

At  this  time  Gen.  Lee  had  returned  to  Richmond,  and  was  living  at  his 
residence  on  Franklin  street.  I  had  a  great  desire  to  see  Gen.  Lee  and  pay 
him  my  respects,  as  I  had  a  great  admiration  for  his  talents  as  a  General  and 


RENEWING  OLD  ACQUAINTANCE.  385 

his  character  as  a  soldier.  A  day  or  two  after  I  reported  to  Gen.  Weitzel 
he  had  occasion  to  send  a  note  to  Gen.  Lee's  house,  and  I  was  selected  to 
carry  it.  After  the  surrender  there  was  a  great  deal  of  delicate  consid 
eration  shown  by  our  Regular  officers  toward  Rebel  officers  who  had  been 
comrades  with  them  in  the  old  army.  I  remember  that  immediately 
after  the  surrender  at  Appomattox  Q.  M.-Gen.  Rufus  Ingalls  took  Gen. 
Harry  Heth  to  stay  with  him  as  his  guest,  and  after  entertaining  him  for 
two  days  or  so  sent  him  home  to  his  farm,  about  50  miles  from  Appo 
mattox,  in  an  ambulance  with  "supplies"  enough  to  last  him  a  mouth. 
The  same  sort  of  courtesies  were  shown  by  our  Gens.  Griffin,  Gibbon, 
Humphreys,  Wright,  Ord,  Sheridan,  Weitzel  and  others  to  their  old  West 
Point  classmates,  such  as  the  Rebel  Gens.  Longstreet,  Field,  Wilcox, 
Pickett,  Anderson,  Ewell,  Fitz  Lee  and  many  others.  I  presume  that, 
considering  myself  a  full-fledged  Regular  at  that  time,  I  shared  the  feel 
ings  of  my  chiefs. 

Among  the  incidents  of  this  sort  of  fraternization  between  officers  who 
had  been  classmates  at  West  Point  was  an  amusing  affair  between  Gen. 
John  Gibbon  and  Gen.  Cadmus  Wilcox.  As  soon  as  the  surrender  was  ac 
complished  Gibbon  took  Wilcox  in  charge,  and  after  entertaining  him  two- 
or  three  days  the  conversation  turned  on  Wilcox's  plans  for  the  future. 
He  finally  decided  to  go  to  New  York,  and  as  he  had  no  money  except  Con 
federate  scrip,  Gibbon  offered  to  stake  him  for  whatever  amount  he  might 
need  to  get  a  new  start  in  the  world.  Wilcox  had  long  been  accustomed  to 
the  large  sums  in  which  Confederate  money  was  reckoned,  and  when  Gib 
bon  asked  him  how  much  he  thought  he  would  need  Wilcox  named  a 
certain  sum.  It  happened  that  this  was  all  Gibbon  had,  except  $2  in  shin- 
plasters,  but  he  pulled  his  wallet  and  counted  it  out  with  the  air  of  an 
Emperor  dispensing  bounty.  It  was  too  good  to  keep,  however,  and  Gib- 
Ixm  had  to  tell  the  story  to  Griffin,  who  circulated  it  with  much  relish. 

On  a  humbler  scale,  but  quite  as  interesting,  was  the  meeting  of  Corp'I 
Sam  Majors,  of  our  old  Battery,  with  his  brother,  who  had  been  all  through 
the  war  in  the  Confederate  artillery.  Sam  had  served  three  years  in  the 
infantry  and  a  year  in  the  Battery,  so  that  both  of  them  had  been  through 
it  all.  Each  had  long  supposed  the  other  to  be  dead,  and  the  meeting  was 
quite  affecting.  Sam's  brother  remained  as  the  guest  of  the  Battery  until 
they  left  for  Washington,  and  I  don't  know  how  much  longer. 

The  message  I  carried  was  directed  to  Gen.  Fitzhugh  Lee,  and  when  I 
delivered  it  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee  was  not  in  the  room.  But  thinking  that 
I  might  never  have  so  good  an  opportunity  again  I  said  to  Gen.  Fitz  Lee : 
' '  General,  if  not  inconvenient  to  him,  I  would  like  to  pay  my  respects  to 
your  illustrious  relative. ' '  At  this  he  stepped  into  the  parlor  and  motioned 
to  me  to  come  in.  I  was  "got  up  regardless"  in  a  brand  new  full-dress 
artillery  uniform  with  white  gloves.  As  I  entered  the  room  Gen.  Lee  was 
standing  in  the  farther  end  of  it,  having  evidently  just  risen  from  his  couch 
in  the  library,  which  was  back  of  the  parlor.  He  had  on  a  long,  gray  dress 
ing  gown  and  slippers.  He  looked  worn  and  somewhat  haggard,  but  the 

25 


386 


THE  CANNONEER. 


grace  and  dignity  of  his  presence  was  something  wonderful.  He  advanced 
as  I  caine  in  and  extended  his  hand.  I  said  :  ' '  Gen.  Lee,  permit  me  to  say, 
sir,  that  my  request  to  see  you  was  dictated  by  an  earnest  desire  to  pay  my 
respects  to  a  General  whom  I  consider  one  of  the  greatest  of  history  ! " 

Gen.  Lee  bowed  very  gravely  and  said  :  "  It  is  gratifying  to  a  man  in 
my  situation  to  know  that  he  has  the  respect  of  soldiers  who  have  fought 
against  him.  I  hope  you  express  the  general  sentiment  of  the  enlisted 
men  of  your  army." 

"I  assure  you  that  I  do,  sir.  All  the  soldiers  in  the  Federal  army 
share  the  regard  for  you  personally  that  I  expressed. ' ' 

He  then,  with  a  most  courteous  bow  and  wave  of  the  hand,  said, 
" Good  morning,  sir,"  and  retired  to  the  inner  room. 

Gen.  Fitz  Lee  then  accompanied  me  to  the  door,  remarking,  as  I  was 
going  out,  "  You  see  that  the 
General  is  not  well.  The  past 
Winter  was  very  trying  on 
him,  and  his  fatigues  and  pri 
vations  in  the  last  campaign 
were  almost  incredible  for  a 
man  of  his  age  to  endure. 
Please  convey  my  compli 
ments  to  Gen.  Godfrey  Weit- 
zel,  and  say  that  I  will  re 
spond  to  the  message  you 
brought  later  in  the  day. 
Good  morning." 

I  do  not  know  what  the  text 
of  the  message  was,  but  know 
that  it  had  reference  to  the 
safe  guarding  of  Gen.  Lee's 
property,  which  was  a  neces 
sary  measure,  as  many  of  our 
men  wanted  to  testify  the  GEN.  LEE  AT  HOME. 

respect  they  had  for  him  by  carrying  away  pieces  of  his  fence  or  shrubbery, 
etc. ,  as  mementoes,  and  they  had  already  committed  some  depredations  of 
that  character.  I  was  much  struck  with  the  absolute  majesty  of  Gen.  Lee's 
personal  presence  and  bearing.  It  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  never  seen  quite 
so  majestic  a  man.  I  did  not  wonder  at  the  devotion  of  the  Confederate 
soldiery  to  him.  Fitz  Lee  was  much  lower  in  stature  than  the  great  Gen 
eral,  and  was  quite  stout.  His  face  beamed  with  good  nature,  and,  not 
withstanding  his  disagreeable  situation,  he  seemed  quite  cheerful. 

After  a  few  days  at  these  headquarters  I  was  transferred  to  what 
was  known  as  the  "Bureau  of  Supply."  This  was  an  arrangement  made 
to  issue  rations  to  the  destitute  people  of  Eichmond.  We  boys  irrev 
erently  called  it  the  "Free-lunch  Bureau!"  Nearly  all  the  people  in 


SHERMAN'S  ARMY.  387 

Richmond  were  destitute  at  this  time,  so  that  I  might  say  that  for  a  month 
or  so  we  rationed  the  whole  city.  My  particular  tield  of  operation  was  the 
suburb  of  Manchester,  on  the  south  side  of  the  James,  and  the  work  of 
issuing  rations  to  these  poor  people  was  very  pleasant  and  interesting. 

Shortly  after  my  assignment  to  duty  at  Manchester  it  was  reported 
that  Sherman's  army  was  coming  up  through  Petersburg,  and  would  cross 
the  James  the  next  morning.  Of  course  all  the  Potomac  Army  men  were 
anxious  to  see  Sherman's  army,  which  had  done  such  wonders,  made  such 
incredible  marches  and  fought  such  a  romantic  campaign  all  the  way  from 
Chattanooga  to  Bentonville,  nothing  like  it  having  ever  been  known  in 
history.  We  poor  devils  had  been  fighting  over  and  over  again  on  the  same 
comparatively  little  patch  of  ground  in  Northern  Virginia,  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania,  several  times  fighting  two  battles  on  the  same  ground  in 
different  years,  while  Sherman's  army  had  literally  "eaten  their  way 
through  the  Confederacy"  from  one  end  to  the  other!  We  had  envied 
them  their  "grand  picnic  through  Georgia  ;  "  we  had  heard  the  most  mar 
vellous  stories  about  their  "Bummers,"  their  foraging  and  their  fighting. 
But  to  me  personally  the  advent  of  this  conquering  host  had  a  peculiar 
interest  for  several  reasons.  One  was  that  a  cousin,  Gen.  George  P.  Buell, 
was  commanding  the  Second  Brigade,  First  Division,  Fourteenth  Corps, 
composed  of  the  13th  and  21st  Michigan  and  69th  Ohio,  and  it  would  be  a 
great  gratification  to  see  him  and,  if  possible,  let  him  know  that,  in  a  much 
humbler  rank,  I  had  been  doing  what  little  was  in  my  power  to  uphold  the 
reputation  of  the  family.  Another  was  that  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
regiments  in  the  Second  Division  of  the  Fourteenth  Corps  wras  the  17th 
New  York  Zouaves,  in  which  were  many  of  my  home  friends  and  acquaint 
ances,  chief  among  whom  was  Col.  Joel  O.  Martin,  an  old  friend  of  our  family, 
and  professor  of  mathematics  in  the  academy  where  I  had  prepared  for  col 
lege.  I  also  wished  to  see  the  10th  Wisconsin  Battery,  which  was  with  Kil- 
patrick's  Cavalry  Division.  My  interest  in  the  10th  Wisconsin  Battery  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  several  of  the  old  Wisconsin  boys  who  had  been  with 
our  Battery  up  to  January,  1864,  when  they  re-enlisted,  had  taken  trans 
fers  to  that  battery,  and  so  had  got  the  opportunity  to  add  to  their  already 
brilliant  records  of  Antietam  and  Gettysburg  with  us  the  wonderful  expe 
rience  of  Sherman's  "marching  through  Georgia."  These  boys  were 
Alonzo  Priest,  Den  Fuller,  Pete  Smith,  Jerry  Murphy,  Frank  Bell,  John 
H.  Cooke  and  Henry  Childs.  Of  these  Priest,  Murphy,  Childs  and  Bell 
had  all  been  Corporals  in  our  Battery,  and  Childs  and  Murphy  had  been 
wounded  at  Gettysburg.  They  were  all  from  the  6th  Wisconsin. 

Unfortunately  I  missed  seeing  the  10th  Wisconsin  Battery,  which,  if 
memory  serves  me,  was  sent  home  by  way  of  Wilmington.  N.  C.,  for  mus 
ter  out,  and  did  not  come  through  Richmond  with  Sherman's  army. 
Sherman's  army  got  itself  up  for  a  special  demonstration  coming  through 
Richmond.  Each  corps  of  "Bummers"  marched  at  the  head  of  the  army 
corps  to  which  it  belonged,  and  the  "Bummers "  attached  to  general  head 
quarters  headed  the  procession.  As  a  rule,  the  troops  were  better  dressed 


388 


THE  CAXXOXEER. 


than  I  expected  to  see,  due  no  doubt  to  the  fact  that  Sherman  had  got  con 
siderable  supplies  of  clothing  by  way  of  Wilmington  after  opening  commu 
nication  with  that  point.  Their  batteries  were  ' '  a  sight ' '  so  far  as  equip 
ment  was  concerned.  Many  of  them  had  mule  teams  captured  in  the 
enemy's  country,  or  a  mule  and  a  horse  hitched  together.  Their  tugs  or 
traces  were  often  of  rope  or  old  chains  picked  up  on  the  march.  Their 
wheeled  gear  bore  numerous  evidences  of  ingenious  makeshifts  in  the  field, 
many  spokes  being  made  of  pieces  of  sapling,  sometimes  put  in  green  and 
having  the  bark  still  on.  Add  to  this  motley  "trains"  of  two- wheeled 
carts,  ricketty  old  wagons  picked  up  from  the  farms  and  towns  as  they 
went  along,  captured  Confederate  wagons  and  ambulances,  all  loaded  with 
every  conceivable  kind  of  stuff,  and  you  have  a  faint  picture  of  Sherman's 
army  as  it  crossed  the  James.  At  the  head  of  one  regiment  was  a  huge 
"grenadier,"  about  six  feet  six,  carrying  a  captured  Rebel  flag  staff  with 
a  broom  lashed  to  the  top  of  it,  signifying,  I  suppose,  that  they  had  been 
"making  a  clean  sweep."  This,  I  think,  they  said  was  the  regiment  that 
had  tired  the  last  shot  at  Johnston's  troops,  but  I  cannot  recall  its  designa 
tion.  It  was  said  that  Gen.  Halleck,  who  was  in  Richmond  at  the  time, 
had  made  elaborate  provision  for  a  "grand  review"  of  Sherman's  army  as 
it  passed  through  the  town,  but  Sherman  sardonically  took  his  line  of 
march  through  the  city  by  another  route  than  that  arranged  by  Halleck 
and  kept  on  the  even  tenor  of  his  way  to  Washington,  leaving  "Old 
Brains"  to  cool  his  heels  on  his  flag-draped  platform  in  Statehouse  Square 
' '  all  unhonored  and  unsung. ' ' 

Remaining  in  Richmond  I,  of  course,  missed  the  "Grand  Review"  at 
Washington.  Capt.  Stewart  resumed  command  of  the  Battery  while  the 
Fifth  Corps  was  on  its  way  to  the  Capital,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  com 
manding  it  in  that  immortal  procession.  He  remained  in  the  Regular 
Army  till  1879,  when  he  retired  on  account  of  his  old  wounds,  and  has 
since  resided  at  Carthage,  Ohio. 

I  remained  on  duty,  as  before  described,  in  Richmond  until  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Corps  sailed  for  Texas,  when  my  humble  service  in  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  came  to  an  end. 


SUPPLEMENTARY    CHAPTER. 


CAPT.  STEWART'S  MEMOIR  OF  EARLY  SERVICE  IN  THE  BATTERY  —  EXTRACTS 
FROM  THE  JOURNAL  OF  SERG'T  CHARLES  A.  SANTMYER. 

N  the  Spring  of  1851  I  left 
Governor's  Island,  New  York 
Harbor,  for  Brownsville,  Tex., 
with  a  detachment  of  90  re 
cruits— 50  for  the  Battery 
and  40  for  Company  K;  of  the 
same  regiment.  I  was  acting 
First  Sergeant  of  the  detach 
ment.  When  we  reached  Fort 
Brown  I  found  that  the  Bat 
tery  had  no  horses.  A  short 
time  after  an  order  came  from 
Gen.  Persifer  F.  Smith,  who 
was  in  command  of  the  De 
partment  of  Texas,  to  mount 
the  Batterymen  011  mules  and 
send  them  up  the  Rio  Grande 
to  prevent  the  Indians  from 
running  stock  across  into  Mex 
ico.  The  following  morning 
when  we  turned  out  for  re 
veille,  much  to  our  surprise 
after  roll  call,  the  First  Ser 
geant  ordered  the  Bugler  to 
sound  stable  call.  We  were 
then  marched  to  the  Orderly's 
office,  and  there  every  man  re 
ceived  a  cavalry  outfit.  We 
were  then  marched  to  the 
Quartermaster's  corral,  and 
on  reaching  there  we  saw  six 
Mexicans  with  their  lassos  in  hand  to  catch  the  mules  that  we  were  to  ride. 
These  mules,  of  which  there  were  over  1,000,  had  been  bought  a  short  time 
before  from  the  different  haciendas  in  Mexico,  and  never  had  even  a  halter  on 
them.  I  took  in  the  situation,  and  knowing  one  of  the  Mexicans  slightly  I 
asked  him  if  he  did  not  wish  to  make  an  honest  half  dollar ;  he  said  he  did. 
"  Well,  then,"  I  said,  "catch  me  up  a  mule,  if  it  is  possible  to  find  one,  that  has 
been  used."  He  said  he  would,  and  pointed  one  out  to  me  that  he  thought  was 
rather  gentle.  He  caught  him  up;  I  had  him  tied  to  the  fence,  when  I  pro 
ceeded  to  try  to  put  a  saddle  on  him,  but  had  to  call  for  assistance  from  the 
other  men,  and  after  considerable  kicking,  snorting  and  rearing  we  finally  got 
him  saddled  and  bridled  ;  then  all  hands  held  on  to  him  until  I  mounted  As 
soon  as  I  was  in  the  saddle  I  told  them  to  cast  loose.  The  moment  he  was 
turned  loose  he  gave  one  buck,  sending  the  saddle  and  myself  half  way  up  his 
neck.  Buck  number  two :  The  saddle  was  on  his  ears,  and  I  was  performing 
some  very  lofty  tumbling  to  the  admiration  of  the  balance  of  the  troops,  but 


CAPT.  STEWART  IN  1890. 


390  STEWART'S  MEMOIR. 

I  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  rest  of  my  comrades  handled  in  the  same 
disastrous  manner.  The  mules  were  all  Mexican  mustang  "  burros,"  and  in  my 
estimation  could  double  discount  any  American  mule  for  cussedness.  The  girth 
attached  to  the  saddles  were  cotton,  and  we  had  to  tie  about  a  dozen  knots  in 
them  to  shorten  them  in  attempting  to  keep  a  saddle  on  a  mule's  back.  A  mes 
senger  was  sent  to  inform  Gen.  Smith  that  these  mules  had  never  been  used  at 
all,  and  that  it  would  take  some  time  to  break  them  for  use  under  the  saddle. 
The  General  allowed  us  eight  days  to  break  them  in,  and  at  the  same  time 
ordered  the  Quartermaster  to  hire  some  Mexican  packers  for  the  use  of  the 
pack-train,  as  no  wagons  could  be  taken  along. 

The  morning  we  set  out  from  the  post  we  were  all  mounted  and  marcneo 
in  front  of  the  company  quarters.  Before  getting  to  our  quarters  we  had  to 
pass  Company  K's  quarters,  and  as  we  hove  in  sight  a  smart  Aleck  on  the  porch 
called  out,  "  Here  comes  the  cavalry,1'  when  another  of  the  same  stripe  sang 
out,  "  Why,  that's  the  Jackass  cavalry  ! "  However,  we  got  in  front  of  our  own 
quarters  and  got  the  order  for  each  rank  to  count  fours.  Just  as  that  had  been 
done  the  pack-train  came  in  sight.  The  leading  rascal  of  the  train  was  an 
American  mule,  a  fine,  large  white  fellow,  and  as  he  held  the  post  of  honor  in 
the  lead  he  had  all  the  camp  kettles  and  cooking  utensils  on  his  pack.  The 
mule  following  him  was  hitched  to  his  tail,  and  so  were  the  rest,  each  to  his  file- 
leader's  tail.  The  Mexicans  who  were  in  charge  tried  very  hard  to  make  the 
pack-train  go  on  the  road  leading  out  of  the  post,  but  the  leader  made  a  break 
for  our  company  quarters.  The  Mexicans  tried  to  stop  them,  but  unfortu 
nately  the  girth  on  the  leading  mule  got  loose  and  the  camp  kettles  fell  down 
among  his  feet.  He  came  on  at  full  charge  to  where  we  were  formed.  I  was 
on  the  left  of  the  company,  being  a  Corporal.  They  dashed  right  in  front  of 
us,  and  the  mule  I  was  on  gave  one  snort  and  commenced  to  run  and  buck, 
throwing  me  sky  high.  After  I  had  been  thrown  he  commenced  backing  and 
kicking  at  me.  I  rolled  over  on  the  grass,  getting  out  of  his  reach  as  fast  as  pos 
sible.  "When  I  got  up  I  saw  there  was  not  a  man  mounted,  every  one  sharing 
the  same  fate  as  myself.  The  whole  parade-ground  was  strewn  with  saddles, 
blankets  and  the  balance  of  our  traps,  including  our  flintlock  pistols  that  we 
had  to  fight  the  Indians  with.  In  place  of  leaving  the  post  at  7  o'clock  in  the 
morning  we  did  not  get  away  until  after  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Very  for 
tunately  for  us  we  met  no  Indians.  If  we  had  I  feel  sure  none  of  us  would 
have  been  left  to  tell  the  tale,  as  we  were  only  armed  with  flintlock  pistols  and 
artillery  sabers,  and  I  am  sure  there  was  not  a  man  in  the  party  that  would 
have  dared  to  use  either  while  mounted  on  his  mule.  However,  we  got  back 
to  the  post  (having  been  out  a  little  over  three  weeks)  safe  and  sound,  but  hor 
ribly  disgusted  with  our  "chargers." 

We  then  returned  to  Fort  Brown,  Tex.,  named  after  Maj.  Brown,  United 
States  Army,  who  was  killed  in  defense  of  the  fort.  At  the  time  I  served  there 
two  of  his  daughters  were  married  to  officers  doing  duty  at  the  post.  The  first 
was  Mrs.  Van  Viiet,  whose  husband  was  Quartermaster  at  the  post  at  that  time» 
now  retired  as  Brevet  Major-General,  and  at  present  living  in  Washington 
City.  The  second  was  married  to  Dr.  Samuel  Preston  Moore,  at  that  time  Sur 
geon  of  the  post,  afterward  Surgeon-General  of  the  Confederacy.  The  other 
officers  were  Maj.  Giles  Porter,  4th  Artillery,  commanding;  Capt.  John  W. 
Phelps,  commanding  Battery  B,  with  First  Lieuts.  H.  Whiting  and  E.  Hayes, 
and  Ruf  us  Saxton,  Second  Lieutenant ;  Company  K,  of  the  same  regiment, 
commanded  by  Capt.  Wooster,  First  Lieut.  J.  P.  Garesche  and  Second  Lieut. 
J.  Dungan. 

It  is  interesting  to  trace  the  destinies  of  the  officers  and  men  who  formed 
the  garrison  of  Fort  Brown  in  1852-54.  Lieut.  Hartsuff  was  afterward  a  Major- 
General  of  Volunteers,  and  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Antietam ;  Lieut. 
Garesche  was  Chief  of  Staff  for  Gen.  Roseerans,  and  was  killed  at  Stone 
River  ;  Lieut.  Weed  also  served  with  the  Battery  at  Fort  Brown,  and  was  killed 
at  Gettysburg  in  the  second  day's  fight  while  commanding  the  Regular  brigade 


THE  BATTERY  STARTS  FOR  UTAH.  391 

as  Brigadier-General ;  Lieut.  Hazzard  also  served  with  the  Battery,  and  was 
killed  while  in  command  of  another  battery  in  the  seven  days1  tight  in  front  of 
Richmond.  The  first  thing-  that  happened  of  any  importance  was  the  trial  of 
Maj.  Giles  Porter,  4th  Artillery,  the  commanding  officer,  for  drunkenness, 
upon  charges  preferred  by  Capt.  J  W.  Phelps.  Of  course,  such  a  court  called 
for  a  very  large  number  of  field  officers,  among'  whom  were  Lieut. -Col.  R.  E. 
Lee,  Maj.  George  H.  Thomas  and  Col.  C.  "Waite.  The  Battery  was  now  ordered 
to  Fort  Leavenworth.  We  left  Fort  Brown  the  latter  part  of  November,  1856, 
by  schooner  from  Point  Isabel,  reaching  New  Orleans  after  a  splendid  passage. 
Capt.  Phelps  was  left  behind  as  a  witness  on  Maj.  Porter's  court.  Lieut.  R. 
W.  Howard  was  in  command  of  the  Battery.  Second  Lieut.  O.  F.  Solomon  was 
the  other  officer  with  it.  First  Lieut.  G.  F.  Talmage  joined  the  Battery  at  New 
Orleans.  On  our  arrival  at  St.  Louis  we  found  the  Missouri  River  blocked  with 
ice,  so  the  Battery  was  ordered  to  take  post  at  Jefferson  Barracks,  and  re 
mained  there  until  the  month  of  March,  when  it  was  ordered  to  Fort  Leaven- 
worth  by  steamer.  Arriving  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  in  March,  1857,  we  found 
the  1st  Cavalry  and  the  6th  Infantry  stationed  there,  Gen.  Harney  in  command 
of  the  Department  and  Col.  Sunnier  in  command  of  the  post.  Lieut.  Howard, 
who  was  commanding  the  Battery,  had  orders  to  have  the  Battery  equipped  as 
soon  as  possible  to  take  the  field,  and  from  that  day  out  we  were  just  as  busy 
as  bees.  Capt.  T.  L.  Brent  was  Post  Quartermaster,  and,  having  served  in  the 
Battery  as  a  Lieutenant,  was  very  kind,  and  allowed  me  to  pick  out  whatever 
horses  I  chose.  He  had  the  Battery  painted  by  the  men  in  his  employ,  and  from 
morning  until  night  we  were  busy  either  at  the  stables  or  drilling  at  the  Ord 
nance  Depot. 

About  one  month  before  starting  on  the  Utah  expedition  the  5th  and  10th 
Infantry  arrived  at  the  post  and  were  placed  in  camp  near  the  river.  I  had 
never  seen  such  a  busy  time ;  every  soldier  in  the  garrison  seemed  to  be  doing 
his  best  to  get  ready  to  start.  Before  we  left  the  1st  Cavalry,  under  command 
of  the  Colonel  of  the  regiment,  started  out  after  the  Sioux  and  Cheyenne  In 
dians.  Maj.  John  Sedgwick  had  charge  of  the  wagon  trains  containing  the 
ammunition  and  supplies.  As  the  ammunition  was  the  last  to  be  loaded  the 
rest  of  the  wagon  train  was  waiting,  when  an  Orderly  from  Maj.  Sedgwick 
came  to  my  quarters  and  inquired  if  I  knew  where  the  Ordnance  Sergeant 
could  be  found.  Knowing  the  old  man's  habits,  I  started  over  to  the  Sergeant's 
house,  where  I  found  his  wife  all  out  of  temper.  She  said  Maj.  Sedgwick  had 
sent  after  the  Sergeant  to  come  and  open  the  magazine,  but  no  one  could  find 
out  where  he  was ;  so  she  gave  me  the  keys  of  the  magazine,  and  I  went  over 
and  found  the  Quartermaster  Sergeant  of  the  1st  Cavalry  waiting  there  with 
a  detail  to  receive  the  ammunition  and  load  it  in  the  wagons.  I  opened  the 
magazine,  took  his  requisitions,  and  had  just  completed  the  issuing  when  Maj. 
Sedgwick  came  over,  and  seeing  me  come  out  of  the  magazine  asked  who 
I  was.  I  told  him  that  I  was  the  First  Sergeant  of  the  Battery,  and  that  I  had 
filled  his  requisitions.  He  was  very  much  pleased,  and  told  me  that  the  first 
time  I  should  see  him  after  coming  back  from  the  expedition  he  would  do 
something  for  me.  The  next  time  I  saw  him  was  in  Washington  City,  October, 
1861.  I  was  walking  with  Gen.  Gibbon,  and  he  asked  me  if  I  knew  that  General 
officer  coming  toward  us.  I  told  him  I  did  not,  when  Gibbon  told  me  who  he 
was,  and  I  had  just  time  to  tell  Gen.  Gibbon  what  Sedgwick  had  promised  me 
when  we  met.  Gen.  Gibbon  introduced  me  to  Gen.  Sedgwick  and  reminded 
him  of  his  promise.  He  told  me  that  I  was  a  good  deal  better  off  than  he  was, 
as  he  was  simply  worried  to  death  from  morning  till  night,  but  from  that  time 
until  his  death  he  was  a  very  warm  friend  of  mine.  Capt.  J.  W.  Phelps  joined 
us  about  two  months  after  we  had  been  at  the  post.  Once  a  week  before  the 
cavalry  left  to  look  after  the  Indians  Col.  E.  V.  Sumner  had  what  was  called 
a  brigade  drill,  the  1st  Cavalry,  6th  Infantry  and  the  Battery  being  the  troops 
who  took  part.  The  drill  always  wound  up  by  a  general  advance  upon  the 
enemy  and  a  brilliant  charge  by  the  cavalry.  This  part  of  it  was  well  worthy 


392  STEWAKT'S  MEMOIR. 

of  the  gallant  1st,  as  there  were  generally  about  25  or  30  cavalrymen  left  on 
the  field,  while  a  good  many  of  the  horses  struck  out  for  the  stables  and  a  few 
made  for  the  river,  as  I  suppose  they  thought  a  good  square  drink  would  be 
the  proper  thing  after  such  a  drill.  It  was  a  beautiful  wind  up.  In  choosing 
horses  for  the  Battery  we  generally  would  take  about  six  at  a  time,  hitch  them 
up  and  see  how  they  would  work.  In  picking  them  out  the  Captain  told  me  to 
take  none  over  four  years  old,  and  to  have  each  section's  horses  of  different 
colors ;  the  right  section  bay,  the  center  black  and  the  left  sorrel,  the  horses 
for  the  Battery  wagon  and  forge  being  gray. 

July  19,  1857,  we  started  for  Utah,  and  such  a  start.  It  took  us  about 
two  hours  to  move  out  of  park,  and  although  we  only  inarched  about  six  miles 
some  of  the  pieces  and  caissons  did  not  reach  camp  until  way  after  dark,  but 
in  a  very  few  days  the  horses  worked  quite  well.  That  difficulty  over  with 
them  we  had  another  to  encounter,  and  that  was  getting  the  horses  used  to  the 
lariat  and  picket-pin.  Each  driver  had  to  remain  with  his  team  for  about  10 
days,  until  the  horses  got  used  to  the  lariat  getting  around  their  fetlocks,  but 
after  that  it  was  very  pleasant  for  every  one.  We  generally  started  in  the 
morning  at  6,  and  would  march  until  about  11  or  12,  rarely  ever  later  than  that 
in  getting  into  camp.  Our  orders  were  to  keep  one  day's  march  behind  the  10th 
Inf antry.  The  5th  Infantry  was  one  day's  march  in  rear  of  us,  and  no  march 
ing  was  to  be  done  on  Sunday.  After  getting  our  horses  broken  to  work 
steadily,  and  also  to  be  able  to  free  themselves  from  the  lariat,  it  was  simply  a 
picnic,  as  we  had  delightful  weather  the  whole  way  to  Green  River,  and  as  it 
took  us  90  days  to  reach  that  point  everything  went  just  like  clock  work,  and 
we  had  a  splendid  time.  On  reaching  Fort  Kearny  we  saw  our  first  buffalo. 
At  first  there  were  two  or  three  small  bands,  but  after  we  reached  our  camp  we 
saw  thousands  of  them.  When  the  Captain  had  come  to  the  conclusion  where 
we  would  camp  he  told  me  that  if  I  wished  I  might  go  out  and  try  to  kill  one 
for  the  Battery.  I  was  certainly  pleased,  and  after  starting  after  them  I  rode 
so  as  to  get  them  between  me  and  the  Battery.  I  soon  made  up  my  mind  which 
one  I  would  kill,  and  riding  up  close  to  him  shot  him  behind  the  foreshoulder, 
thus  preventing  him  from  keeping  up  with  the  rest  of  the  herd.  As  soon  as  I 
saw  he  was  badly  hit  I  commenced  to  try  and  drive  him  toward  the  Battery ; 
but  he  came  for  me,  and  that  settled  it,  as  I  gave  him  four  more  shots,  and 
down  he  went.  I  got  off  my  horse,  and  as  I  had  a  hunting-knife  I  cut  his  throat. 
In  a  short  time  five  or  six  of  the  Battery  were  with  me,  and  we  proceeded  to 
cut  the  buffalo  up  in  the  most  artistic  style.  We  carried  most  of  it  to  camp, 
and  I  do  not  think  there  was  a  particle  of  it  left  by  the  next  morning.  From 
that  day  on  not  a  day  passed  but  we  had  one  or  two  buffalos  until  we  reached 
Fort  Laramie.  We  remained  at  this  point  for  two  days,  and  then  started  for 
Green  River.  We  had  had  delightful  weather  so  far.  The  first  rain  that  fell 
was  while  we  were  in  camp  at  Independence  Rock  —  a  rock  made  famous  by 
the  late  Professor  Agassiz,  who  said  that  it  substantiated  his  theory  that  this 
Continent  had  been  covered  with  glaciers.  From  that  point  we  struck  the 
Sweetwater,  and  passed  through  a  nice  country  until  we  reached  Green  River. 
When  we  reached  the  river  we  found  about  3,000  Snake  Indians  in  camp,  and 
as  they  had  seen  us  coming  they  did  what  they  could  to  make  a  great  impres 
sion  on  us.  The  warriors  commenced  riding  in  circles  round  the  column,  and 
the  old  chief,  Washakie,  came  to  our  camp.  He  was  dressed  and  looked  like  the 
grand  warrior  he  was,  but  his  bodyguard,  I  must  confess,  did  not  strike  me  as 
being  very  formidable.  I  expected  to  have  seen  splendid-looking  Indians,  but 
to  me  they  looked  poor  and  dirty,  and  I  noticed  most  of  them  had  sore  eyes. 
There  was  only  one  of  the  bodyguard  mounted  upon  anything  like  a  good 
pony,  and  I  at  once  started  to  make  a  trade.  I  offered  the  Indian  $125  in  gold, 
but  he  would  not  accept,  though  he  finally  accepted  six  red  blankets  and  rode 
off  behind  another  Indian  perfectly  delighted  ;  and  so  was  I.  After  the  great 
chief  Washakie  had  gone  all  over  our  camp  he  got  down  off  his  pony  and  sat 
on  the  grass  in  front  of  the  Captain's  tent,  when  I  took  a  good  look  at  him  and 


"THE  NOBLE  RED  MEX."  393 

his  bodyguard.  Washakie  had  on  an  officer's  old  uniform  coat,  with  a  pair  of 
very  much  faded  epaulettes.  An  eagle's  feather  in  his  hair,  a  pair  of  leggins 
and  a  breechclout  completed  his  outfit.  But  the  bodyguard,  how  shall  I  de 
scribe  it.  The  most  that  one  could  see  of  them  was  their  buffalo  robe.  That 
article  seemed  to  be  shirt,  coat  and  overcoat.  Besides  the  buffalo  robe,  a  pair 
of  leggins  and  moccasins  completed  their  attire.  They  certainly  did  not  make 
much  of  an  impression  upon  us  as  samples  of  the  "noble  Red  Men"  that  we 
had  read  so  much  of  in  Cooper's  novels.  It  was  in  this  camp  that  I  abandoned 
my  horse,  "  Tartar,"  with  whom  you  afterward  became  so  well  acquainted. 
For  over  a  month  we  were  marched  up  one  creek  and  down  another  waiting 
for  Gen.  Albert  Sydney  Johnston  to  arrive  and  assume  command.  But  before 
he  arrived  the  Mormon  Destroying  Angels  burnt  three  large  wagon  trains  and 
all  the  grass  along  the  creeks  to  prevent  our  stock  from  obtaining  any  grazing. 
The  General  arrived  about  the  1st  of  November,  and  the  following  day  we  took 
up  the  march  toward  Fort  Bridger.  We  started  on  the  march  in  a  very  heavy 
snow  storm,  some  of  the  horses  being  taken  out  of  the  harness  and  turned 
loose  nearly  every  mile.  When  we  reached  camp  that  afternoon  the  Captain 
ordered  me  to  take  four  men  and  go  back  and  do  our  best  to  bring  to  camp 
the  horses  that  had  given  out  on  the  march.  After  dinner  we  went  back  to 
where  we  had  started  from  in  the  morning,  but  all  we  could  do  was  to 
bring  three  of  the  number  that  had  given  out,  we  getting  back  to  camp  about 
midnight.  Some  of  the  men  had  pitched  my  tent  during  my  absence,  and 
when  I  entered  it  there  was  10  inches  of  snow  in  it.  Fortunately,  I  had  a  lot 
of  saddle  blankets,  and,  throwing  them  on  the  snow,  turned  in,  in  boots  and 
spurs  and  all  my  clothing.  The  following  morning  when  I  woke  up  I  found  12 
horses  frozen  at  the  picket  rope.  The  cooks  were  doing  their  best  to  get  break 
fast  ready,  but  it  was  a  hard  thing  to  accomplish.  However,  after  considerable 
time  we  had  our  breakfast,  and  as  soon  as  the  men  had  finished  I  had  them  fall 
in  and  sent  every  man  to  the  creek  to  cut  willow  branches  and  give  them  to  the 
horses  to  nibble  at,  as  there  was  not  a  quart  of  grain  in  the  whole  command. 
The  thermometer  that  morning  stood  45  degrees  below  zero.  The  number  of 
animals  that  died  of  cold  and  starvation  that  night  was  estimated  at  600. 

We  remained  in  that  camp  two  days  and  then  started  on  the  march,  making 
about  four  or  five  miles.  It  certainly  was  a  sight  to  see  us  make  the  attempt 
to  start.  Every  driver  had  to  lead  his  horses,  and  one-half  of  the  Cannoneers 
would  take  hold  of  the  leading  piece  and  caisson  and  push  them  up  on  the 
horses,  the  poor  animals  simply  staggering  along  like  so  many  drunken  men. 
I  had  bought  a  pony  from  the  Indians,  and  had  it  not  been  for  him  it  would 
have  taken  us  several  hours  longer  before  we  could  have  reached  camp.  I  just 
tried  him  as  an  experiment,  and,  although  he  had  never  had  a  collar  on  his 
neck,  he  pulled  like  a  good  fellow.  At  last  we  reached  Fort  Bridger,  having 
taken  12  days  to  march  about  30  miles.  During  all  this  march  the  cold  was 
excessive,  thermometer  ranging  from  38  to  46  degrees  below  zero,  and  nearly 
every  man  was  frozen  in  feet  or  hands.  We  made  our  Winter  camp  a  little 
below  the  fort.  Every  morning  we  would  send  our  horses  out  a  short  dis 
tance  to  pick  up  what  they  could  find,  and  that  was  certainly  very  little,  as 
they  were  getting  weaker  every  day,  and  we  had  to  lift  a  good  many  of  them 
up  in  the  morning,  and  the  men  who  were  sent  in  charge  of  them  had  to  carry 
poles  with  which  to  raise  those  horses  which  fell  down.  At  last  the  order  came 
that  every  horse  had  to  be  driven  over  to  Henry's  Fork  and  Burnt  Fork.  I  do 
not  know  where  the  mules  were  sent  to.  Afterward  the  cattle  that  had  hauled 
the  wagons  were  ordered  to  be  killed  at  once,  and  the  Commissary  attended  to 
that  part,  and  that  was  the  only  beef  we  had  until  the  next  June.  The  General 
had  the  Chief  Commissary  take  an  inventory  of  all  the  commissary  stores,  when 
an  order  was  issued  placing  every  officer  and  man  upon  the  same  allowance. 
The  flour  ration  was  10  ounces  daily  per  man,  and  as  there  was  no  hops  or 
baking-powder  or  salt  in  the  command  our  ration  of  bread  was  simply  flour 
and  water.  I  have  seen  $4  a  pound  offered  for  salt  and  refused.  From  the 


394  STEWAET'S  MEMOIR. 

latter  part  of  November  until  the  following  June  there  was  no  salt  in  the  com 
mand.  I  have  seen  men  offer  $1  for  a  biscuit.  I  was  in  great  luck  !  One  of 
the  commissary  employes  gave  me  a  bullock's  head  and  the  four  hoofs,  and 
the  company  clerk  and  myself  made  a  large  panf  ull  of  what  is  called  head 
cheese.  We  had  it  all  marked  off  in  small  squares,  intending  that  it  should 
last  three  months,  but  when  Christmas,  New  Year  and  George  Washington's 
birthday  came  we  celebrated  by  getting  away  with  a  double  supply.  How 
ever,  the  hardest  part  of  our  duty  was  to  go  out  after  fuel.  The  Battery,  being 
stronger  than  any  of  the  infantry  companies,  had  the  running  gears  of  two 
wagons  assigned  to  it,  and  every  morning  after  breakfast  I  would  have  the 
assembly  sounded,  and  when  all  were  in  line  and  accounted  for  I  would  order 
the  guard  to  take  two  paces  to  the  front,  then  "close  the  balance  to  the  cen 
ter"  and  divide  in  two,  and  send  one-half  with  each  of  the  wagons.  They  had 
to  go  about  four  miles,  and  the  snow  was  almost  10  inches  deep.  It  was  pretty 
hard  ;  still  the  men  were  cheerful. 

One  of  the  trains  that  was  burnt  by  the  Mormons  contained  the  clothing 
for  the  Battery,  and  as  there  was  no  more  in  the  Quartermaster's  Department 
the  Captain  gave  orders  to  buy  red  shirts  for  the  men,  so  the  Battery  looked 
more  like  a  fire  company  than  light  artillery.  After  the  cavalry  had  been  sent 
away  to  look  out  for  the  horses  and  mules  the  Battery  was  ordered  to  furnish 
men  every  night  as  a  picket.  The  picket  post  was  about  four  miles  out  on  the 
road  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  the  Captain  objected,  as  we  had  no  firearms,  but 
Gen.  Albert  Sydney  Johnston  told  him  that  "  he  had  never  known  a  saber  to 
miss  fire,1"  so  we  had  to  furnish  men  for  the  picket  post. 

Capt.  Marcy,  of  the  5th  Infantry,  now  started  from  our  camp  to  Fort  Taos, 
N.  Mex.,  for  supplies.  There  was  no  detail  made.  Every  man  volunteered, 
and  they  certainly  proved  to  the  world  what  men  could  endure,  to  start  out  in 
Midwinter,  the  thermometer  away  below  zero,  without  tents  and  pretty  short' 
rations,  no  road,  not  even  a  trail,  and  over  some  of  the  highest  mountains  on 
the  Continent.  Of  necessity  their  sufferings  were  very  great,  and  a  few  of 
these  gallant  men  perished,  but  the  rest  arrived  at  Fort  Taos  and  soon  got  sup 
plies.  Col.  Loring,  of  the  Rifles,  came  back  with  Capt.  Marcy  with  horses, 
mules,  a  good  supply  of  beef  cattle  and  an  immense  wagon  train  of  all  kinds  of 
supplies.  What  was  left  of  our  horses  were  turned  over  to  us,  and  a  hard- 
looking  lot  they  were.  We  also  received  some  of  those  that  had  arrived  from 
Fort  Taos.  When  we  were  ready  to  start  along  came  two  Peace  Commis 
sioners —  Ben  McCullough,  of  Texas,  and  George  Cummings,  of  Georgia.  They 
started  to  Salt  Lake  City  ahead  of  us.  What  kind  of  a  peace  offering  was  given 
or  taken  by  either  side  I  have  yet  to  find  out,  but  on  to  Salt  Lake  City  we 
started.  Nothing  unusual  happened  until  we  came  to  Echo  Canon,  where  we 
found  that  the  Mormons  had  contemplated  making  a  fight.  A  great  many 
places  were  fixed  with  large  rocks  and  small  ones,  so  they  could  fire  through 
the  loopholes.  The  caSon  is  about  30  miles  long,  and  most  of  the  way  the 
sides  are  nearly  perpendicular.  The  road  crosses  the  creek  nearly  40  times  in 
the  30  miles.  At  the  end  of  the  canon  toward  the  city  the  Mormons  had  fixed  a 
dam  so  as  to  prevent  us  from  getting  through;  but  the  command  reached 
Salt  Lake  City,  marched  through  it,  crossed  the  bridge  over  the  Jordan  and 
went  into  camp.  Before  the  command  had  reached  the  city,  and,  as  I  suppose, 
to  allow  us  to  see  what  power  Brigham  Young  had  over  his  people,  he  had 
ordered  nearly  every  man,  woman  and  child  out  of  it.  I  do  not  think  there 
was  over  a  hundred  people  in  the  city  when  we  marched  through  it,  and  they 
did  not  come  back  to  their  homes  until  after  Gen.  Johnston  had  established  his 
permanent  camp  and  we  were  on  the  march  to  it.  Our  camp  was  in  Cedar 
Valley,  and  named  after  the  Secretary  of  War,  J.  B.  Floyd.  As  soon  as  we 
reached  the  camp  contracts  were  given  out  for  adobes,  lumber,  hay,  straw,  all 
kinds  of  grain  and  whatever  we  needed.  It  was  certainly  a  blessing  to  the 
Mormons,  as  before  we  arrived  very  little  money  was  in  circulation  and  all 
traffic  was  by  barter.  The  camp  for  the  first  year  was  perfectly  horrible  on 


BATTLE  OF  EGAX  CANYON.  395 

account  of  the  dust.  Sometimes  the  wind  would  commence  blowing  about  7 
or  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  continue  all  day,  and  during  that  time  you 
could  scarcely  see  10  feet  from  you.  I  know  that  in  my  office  I  would  close  my 
under  shutters  and  light  the  candle,  and  thank  goodness  that  we  were  so  well 
off  as  to  have  even  a  shelter.  The  command  at  Camp  Floyd  consisted  of  the 
7th,  10th  and  5th  Infantry,  four  squadrons  of  the  2d  Dragoons,  Battery  C,  3d 
Artillery,  a  detachment  of  Ordnance  and  Battery  B,  4th  Artillery,  in  all  about 
3,000  men,  besides  a  very  large  number  of  citizen  teamsters.  The  sending  of 
troops  to  Utah  was  a  very  great  mistake,  as  it  merely  assisted  the  Mormons  by 
buying  up  all  their  spare  grain  and  garden  produce,  besides  giving  employ 
ment  to  a  large  number  and  making  money  plenty  where  there  was  none 
before.  After  all  the  quarters  were  built  for  the  officers  and  men  large  corrals 
were  built  for  the  mules,  of  which  there  was  a  very  large  number ;  also  stables 
for  the  cavalry  and  artillery  horses.  They  also  built  immense  storage  houses 
for  the  quartermaster  and  commissary  stores.  When  everything  was  com 
pleted  the  large  garrison  settled  down  to  the  usual  routine  of  post  duty. 

In  May,  1860,  an  Indian  outbreak  occurred  between  Camp  Floyd  and  Carson 
Valley,  on  the  route  to  California,  accompanied  by  depredations  upon  emi 
grants  and  mail  stations.  The  Battery,  mounted  as  cavalry,  was  directed  by 
Col.  C.  F.  Smith  to  proceed  against  these  Indians  —  Shoshones,  Snakes,  Piutes 
and  Pitt  Rivers  —  to  prevent  further  hostilities.  The  Battery  was  commanded 
by  First  Lieut.  Perkins  until  Aug.  8,  when,  being  sick,  he  was  relieved  by 
First  Lieut.  Stephen  H.  Weed.  The  other  officers  with  the  Battery  for  a  short 
time  were  Ass't  Surg.  C.  Brennen,  Lieut.  Beach,  4th  Artillery,  and  Alexander 
Murray,  10th  Infantry.  The  Battery  in  the  performance  of  its  duty  marched 
over  2,000  miles  over  a  barren  country,  and  got  no  rest  until  late  in  Sep 
tember.  Though  the  Indians  were  continually  hostile  the  road  was  kept  open 
for  the  mail  and  pony  express,  and  emigation  protected.  Several  of  the  scout 
ing  parties  encountered  the  Indians  and  drove  them  to  the  mountains  with  loss. 
One  attack  at  Egan  CaSoii,  Aug.  11,  resulted  in  the  loss  of  five  Indians  killed 
and  six  wounded ;  also  all  their  stock.  On  the  side  of  the  troops  Private  John 
Conley  was  mortally  wounded  and  Corp1!  John  Mitchell  and  Private  Herzog 
severely  wounded.  The  Indians  during  the  Summer  had  25  killed  and  many 
wounded.  The  Battery  Commander,  in  his  official  report,  directed  particular 
attention  to  the  following  enlisted  men :  First  Serg't  James  Stewart,  Serg'ts 
Bishop  and  Workman,  Corp'l  John  Mitchell,  Privates  West,  Armstrong,  Con- 
ley,  Chapin,  Conner,  Crawford,  Kelley,  Herzog,  Lackey,  McBride,  Scully  and 
Scott. 

We  then  started  for  Carson  City,  getting  there  the  Fourth  of  July,  1860.  A 
good  many  people  knowing  of  our  approach  came  out  to  meet  us  and  invited  us 
to  join  them  in  celebrating  the  Nation's  natal  day.  We  told  them  that  all  of 
our  uniforms  had  been  left  behind,  and  we  could  not  make  a  very  presentable 
appearance  ;  so  they  very  kindly  sent  us  plenty  of  good  fresh  bread,  beef  and 
vegetables,  and  plenty  of  beer.  Every  one  here  seemed  to  be  nearly  crazy. 
Men  were  going  about  saying  they  were  millionaires,  and  at  the  same  time  had 
not  money  enough  to  pay  for  their  dinners.  The  celebrated  Comstock  Lode 
had  been  opened,  and,  being  very  rich,  those  who  held  stock  were  perfectly 
wild.  A  good  many  of  these  men  came  into  the  camp  and  made  some  of  our 
men  very  strong  inducements  to  desert,  offering  them  $5  a  day,  our  blacksmith 
being  offered  $10  a  day  and  a  guarantee  of  steady  work ;  but  for  all  that  not  a 
man  deserted,  which  certainly  proved  their  fidelity.  After  getting  rid  of  our 
Mormon  friends  we  started  back  for  Ruby  Valley,  our  headquarters,  when  be 
tween  Dry  Creek  Station  and  Diamond  Creek  Station  the  pony  express  met 
us  and  reported  that  the  Indians  had  run  off  the  stock  from  the  latter  station. 
About  two  hours  after,  while  at  a  halt,  Lieut.  Perkins  saw  a  few  Indians  some 
distance  off,  who  evidently  did  not  wish  to  be  seen.  He  ordered  me  to  ride  over 
toward  them  and  see  who  they  were,  and  also  see  how  many  there  were  of 
them.  I  started,  and  on  getting  pretty  close  to  them  the  one  nearest  to  me  at 


396  STEWART'S  MEMOIR. 

once  commenced  string-ing  his  bow,  but  I  shouted  to  him  to  put  that  bow  down, 
and  at  the  same  time  cocked  my  carbine.  I  then  made  a  signal  for  assistance, 
and  some  of  the  company  came  galloping  toward  me.  We  dashed  in  among 
them,  and  found  there  were  about  40  of  them.  We  made  them  move  over  to 
where  the  rest  of  the  company  had  been  halted  and  placed  them  in  charge  of 
the  guard  and  then  resumed  our  march,  but  had  not  gone  very  far  before  we 
saw  a  large  number  of  Indians  making  for  the  mountains.  The  guard  was 
ordered  to  halt  and  keep  a  good  lookout  for  the  prisoners,  and  the  rest  of  the 
company  started  at  a  gallop  after  them.  My  horse  (the  afterward  famous  "  Old 
Tartar"),  being  the  fastest  in  the  company,  I  concluded  to  head  off  those  who 
were  nearest  the  mountains.  When  I  had  passed  the  one  farthest  away  I  held 
up  my  horse  as  soon  as  possible,  and  after  turning  him  I  had  to  look  to  see 
where  the  Indian  had  gone.  I  found  what  I  thought  was  a  young  Buck,  but  I 
was  mistaken,  for  she  was  a  rather  pretty  Indian  maiden  !  She  surrendered 
gracefully,  and  so  did  the  others.  We  at  once  marched  and  soon  arrived  at 
Diamond  Creek  Station,  when  the  agent  told  us  that  these  were  not  the  Indians 
who  had  run  off  the  stock,  but  he  was  of  the  opinion  it  would  be  a  good  thing 
to  keep  them  until  the  next  morning. 

The  following  day  we  left  our  Indians  and  started  on  our  journey  for  Ruby 
Valley.  We  remained  there  several  days,  when  Lieut.  Weed  and  myself,  with 
20  men,  were  sent  to  patrol  the  mail  line,  going  back  as  far  as  Fish  Springs,  in 
the  desert.  When  we  struck  Red  Butte  we  saw  a  wagon  train  coming,  so  we 
waited  for  them  to  come  to  the  station.  It  was  a  train  sent  out  by  Col.  Smith 
from  Camp  Floyd  with  30  days'  more  rations.  The  order  stated  that  Col.  Smith 
was  highly  pleased  with  what  had  been  done  by  the  company,  and  that  we 
should  remain  out  for  30  days  longer.  After  taking  some  rations  out  of  the 
wagons  Lieut.  Weed  concluded  to  go  to  Egan  Canon,  where  about  five  miles 
from  that  place  the  express  rider  joined  us,  and  as  it  was  a  very  bad  place  he 
concluded  to  keep  us  company  for  a  short  distance.  After  getting  through  the 
cafioii  he  started  at  a  good  gait,  and  had  gone  about  half  a  mile  when  I  saw 
him  coming  toward  us  as  fast  as  his  pony  could  go.  He  was  very  much  excited, 
and  told  me  that  the  Indians  had  possession  of  the  station,  and  that  they  had  a 
large  fire  built  in  front  and  had  the  station  keeper  tied  to  a  post  and  were  going 
to  roast  him.  I  halted  the  column,  made  the  men  dismount,  fix  their  saddle 
blankets,  tighten  their  girths  and  see  that  their  arms  were  ready  for  instant 
use.  We  could  not  see  the  station  from  the  direction  that  we  were  going,  as 
there  was  a  very  sharp  turn  in  the  bluff,  but  as  we  turned  the  point  we  saw 
that  the  Indians  had  full  possession.  It  did  not  take  us  more  than  two  minutes 
from  the  turning  point  to  get  up  to  the  station,  and  it  certainly  was  a  great 
surprise  to  the  Indians  to  see  soldiers  coming.  Lieut.  Goode  had  left  the  sta 
tion  that  morning  with  his  wagon  train  and  a  pretty  strong  party  of  infantry, 
so  the  Indians  did  not  expect  to  see  any  of  us  for  sometime.  The  station  keeper 
awhile  before  this  had  killed  one  of  their  number,  and  they  had  made  up 
their  minds  that  this  was  a  good  time  to  get  even  with  him.  There  were  about 
350,  as  near  as  I  could  estimate,  but  our  sudden  appearance  surprised  them,  and 
we  reached  the  station  before  the  Indians  knew  what  to  do. 

As  soon  as  we  came  to  a  halt  most  of  them  jumped  from  the  front  of  the 
station  and  took  cover  in  an  adjacent  gully.  The  chief  had  no  time  to  jump, 
as  he  was  inside  of  the  station  when  we  reached  it,  and  the  others  had  gone 
before  he  came  out.  He  walked  up  to  Lieut.  Weed  and  commenced  speaking 
to  him.  The  Lieutenant  told  him  that  he  could  not  talk  to  him  unless  he  put 
his  rifle  on  the  ground,  and  ordered  me  to  make  him  put  it  down.  I  had  my 
revolver  in  my  hand  and  pointed  it  at  his  head,  being  very  close  to  him,  and 
told  him  to  put  his  rifle  down  or  I  would  blow  the  top  of  his  head  off.  He  put 
it  down.  One  of  our  men  had  in  the  meantime  cut  the  station  keeper  loose, 
and  when  the  chief  had  put  his  rifle  down  I  told  the  station  keeper  to  take  it 
up  and  keep  it.  He  took  it  up,  but  put  it  down  again.  I  told  him  again  to  hold 
on  to  the  rifle,  but  I  saw  at  once  that  he  did  not  know  what  he  was  about. 


"Din  Nor  WANT  TO  BE  BOTHERED."  397 

Lieut.  Weed  ordered  me  to  dismount  the  men,  put  the  horses  in  the  corral  and 
then  come  out,  and  he  would  engage  the  chief  in  talk  while  we  were  doing  so. 
I  gave  the  command  to  dismount,  but  scarcely  had  I  done  so  when  the  Indians 
who  had  jumped  into  the  gully  lired  at  us;  the  chief  at  the  same  time  snatched 
the  rifle  out  of  the  station  keeper's  hand,  but  just  as  he  was  making  the  leap 
for  the  gully  Lieut.  Weed  killed  him  with  a  single  shot  from  his  revolver,  as  we 
did  not  want  to  be  bothered  with  him  any  more.  The  Lieutenant  ordered  me 
to  make  the  men  pull  down  a  part  of  the  rear  of  the  corral  large  enough  to  get 
a  horse  through,  and  to  take  10  mounted  men  and  make  a  detour  in  rear  of 
them  and  drive  them  out  of  the  gully.  I  started  on  a  run  and  soon  drove  them 
out.  One  of  them  could  not  run  as  well  as  the  rest,  so  I  closed  up  on  him  very 
fast  and  gave  him  a  whack  with  my  saber  as  I  was  passing.  He  was  killed  a 
minute  later  while  trying  to  use  his  rifle. 

As  soon  as  we  drove  them  out  of  the  gully  we  took  the  horses  back,  placed 
them  in  the  corral  and  then  formed  a  skirmish  line  and  started  for  them. 
Their  first  fire  wounded  Corp'l  Mitchell,  killed  Private  Conley  and  severely 
wounded  Private  Herzog,  who  was  afterward  killed  at  Antietam.  We  also  had 
four  horses  killed  and  two  wounded.  After  forming  our  line  we  drove  them 
up  the  mountain  at  a  very  lively  if  ait.  We  had  got  up  about  half  way  when 
we  saw  where  their  ponies  were  and  started  for  them  at  once,  and  getting  be 
tween  them  and  the  Indians  drove  the  ponies  into  the  corral.  There  were  20' 
of  them,  and  all  their  food  and  tentage  was  on  the  ponies.  As  soon  as  it  was 
dark  one  man  was  ordered  to  go  back  to  Ruby  Valley  and  bring  the  doctor 
with  him.  The  doctor  arrived  the  next  forenoon.  The  morning  following 
our  fight  I  was  ordered  over  to  Shell  Creek  Station  with  six  men,  and  I  got 
there  just  in  the  very  nick  of  time  to  assist  the  party,  as  the  Indians  had  the 
station  party  besieged  in  the  station,  but  when  they  saw  us  coming  they  put 
out  just  as  fast  as  they  could.  Two  days  after  we  heard  of  them  being  at  Deep 
Creek.  We  started  after  them  and  ran  them  80  miles  into  the  Bad  Lands,  when 
our  horses  gave  out  and  it  took  us  three  days  to  get  back,  with  the  loss  of  two 
of  them.  We  chased  the  Indians  so  hard  that  they  abandoned  everything,  even 
to  their  saddles.  The  company  also  did  a  great  deal  to  assist  the  emigrants, 
escorting-  them  past  places  frequented  by  the  Indians  and  showing  them  the 
most  suitable  places  to  camp.  When  the  company  first  went  out  about  12  of 
the  Destroying  Angels,  or  "Danites,"  as  they  were  called,  were  looking  after 
the  stations,  but  when  the  Indians  broke  out  one  fight  was  quite  enough  for 
them.  They  were  all  that  could  be  desired  to  attack  emigrants  and  run  off  the 
stock,  but  when  it  came  to  fighting  Indians  a  very  little  of  it  went  a  great 
ways  with  them.  After  they  had  cleared  out  a  good  many  of  our  men  had  to 
ride  the  pony  express,  as  there  were  not  enough  men  to  do  it  at  some  of  the 
stations.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Gen.  Gibbon. 
He  had  recently  been  promoted  Captain  of  the  Battery,  and  on  his  arrival  at 
the  Post  he  found  that  the  company  had  not  got  back  from  the  Summer  cam 
paign,  but  knowing  it  was  expected  had  ridden  out  that  distance  to  meet  the 
command.  It  was  a  fortunate  change  for  all  those  connected  with  the  Bat 
tery,  as  it  was  apparent  to  everybody  that  something  was  going  wrong.  The 
Secretary  of  War  (Floyd)  had  decided  that  an  artillery  school  be  established  at 
Camp  Floyd.  It  was  about  as  convenient  for  an  artillery  school  as  Hades 
would  be  for  a  powder  magazine  !  All  that  could  have  been  said  in  its  favor 
was  there  was  range  enough  to  be  had  for  any  guns  that  could  be  manufac 
tured,  but  the  Government  had  to  pay  20  cents  a  pound  for  all  freight  hauled 
to  that  station ! 

In  July,  1861,  we  got  orders  to  come  East,  and  our  equipment  had  been  so 
reduced  that  there  was  not  an  officer  or  man  but  had  to  throw  away  some  of  his 
private  effects.  Before  we  were  ready  to  start  we  could  see  that  the  Mormons 
would  have  liked  very  much  to  be  able  to  cripple  xis  in  some  way,  but  the  com 
mand  was  the  best  I  had  ever  seen.  There  was  enough  cavalry,  infantry  and 
artillery  to  give  Ben  McCullough  all  that  he  could  have  desired,  and  there  was 


398  STEWART'S  MEMOIB. 

a  good  deal  of  talk  about  him  intercepting  us  on  our  -way  East ;  but  had  he 
come  our  way  he  would  not  have  found  another  Maj.  Lynde !  I  feel  sure  that 
the  surrender  would  have  been  on  the  other  side.  When  we  started  East  we 
had  to  proceed  by  easy  marches,  as  the  animals  were  cut  down  to  half  rations 
of  forage,  and  1,700  miles  will  tell  upon  animals  allowed  full  forage.  We  had  a 
very  pleasant  march  across  the  plains,  only  one  sad  thing  taking  place.  Two 
days  from  Fort  Laramie,  at  night,  a  fearful  rain  and  wind  storm  came  up.  At 
first  the  rain  came  down  in  a  perfect  deluge,  the  thunder  kept  rumbling  and 
the  lightning  was  more  vivid  than  I  had  ever  seen  it.  A  tent  of  tht.  3d  Cavalry 
was  knocked  down  and  the  Sergeant  killed,  and  every  man  in  it  was  burnt 
more  or  less ;  two  of  the  band  horses  were  also  killed  and  three  beef  cattle. 
The  next  morning  when  we  left  that  camp,  before  we  had  marched  four  miles, 
we  found  the  road  covered  with  hail,  in  some  places  eight  or  10  inches  deep. 
I  had  never  seen  such  a  storm.  We  reached  Fort  Leaven  worth  about  the  1st 
of  October,  remained  there  a  few  days,  until  the  4th,  and  then  started  for  Wash 
ington,  via  the  Missouri  River  to  latan ;  thence  by  the  Hannibal  &  St.  Joe 
Railroad  to  Quincy ;  thence  by  the  Quincy  Road  to  Chicago ;  thence  by  the 
Pittsburg  &  Fort  Wayne  to  Pittsburg ;  thence  by  the  Northern  Central  to  Bal 
timore  ;  thence  by  Baltimore  &  Ohio  to  Washington,  camping  on  Capitol  Hill. 
Nothing  of  note  occurred  en  route,  excepting  that  while  landing  the  Bat 
tery  at  latan,  Mo.,  we  observed  the  first  Rebels  drilling  on  a  hillside  about  two 
miles  from  the  railroad.  We  sent  some  parties  that  way,  but  they  soon  moved. 
We  proceeded  to  St.  Joseph,  and  laid  there  about  four  days,  awaiting  the  re 
building  of  the  Platte  River  bridge,  which  had  been  burned  by  the  Rebels  a 
few  hours  before  our  arrival.  Expecting  guerrillas  along  the  road,  we  had  two 
6-pounder  guns  on  a  flat  car  loaded  and  ready  for  firing,  but  were  not  attacked 
en  route.  We  reached  Washington  the  13th  of  October,  1861.  You  are  familiar 
with  the  history  of  the  Battery  from  this  time  until  the  end  of  the  Rebellion. 


EXTRACTS   FROM    SERG'T   SANTMYER'S   JOURNAL. 

July  38,  I860.— We  have  laid  by  since  the  34th  recruiting  up  a  little.  There 
are  about  100  Shoshone  Indians  campe4  here  near  us,  with  the  Indian  Agent, 
William  Rogers,  or  Uncle  Billy,  as  he  is  familiarly  called.  The  principal  chief, 
Shocup,  is  here  also.  This  evening  a  little  war  dance  was  gotten  up  for  our 
amusement.  About  15  warriors,  with  their  naked  bodies  painted  white  with  al 
kali  and  striped  with  yellow  clay,  so  that  their  dark  skins  very  much  resembled 
striped  clothes  with  white  facings,  their  faces  half  white  and  half  black,  their 
hair  done  up  in  a  bunch  on  top  of  their  heads  and  tied  with  a  string,  and  a  long 
feather  stuck  in  the  top  of  it.  They  looked  like  so  many  clowns,  entering  the 
ring  in  single  file,  only  that  they  ran  in  snake-fashion  and  came  to  a  halt.  They 
formed  a  ring,  and  commenced  keeping  time  by  stamping  one  foot  to  a  drawl 
ing  song,  which  was  as  follows :  "  Ai  oh  wishe  tooka  pah.  Ai  yah  nan.  Ai  yah 
tu  yu  ni  nah,"  etc.  Two  of  them  who  were  leaders  of  the  ceremonies  kept  up 
an  ambling  gait  in  the  center  of  the  ring,  singing  louder  than  the  rest,  and 
when  they  came  to  a  dead  stop  stamped  most  energetically,  and  gesticulated 
in  a  manner  that  would  do  credit  to  a  lot  of  monkeys.  One  of  the  leaders  would 
dart  out  snake-fashion  and  receive  a  present  and  then  dart  back,  dodging  the 
pieces  of  wood  thrown  at  him  by  the  idle  Indians  standing  around,  and  when 
one  would  strike  it  would  cause  great  laughter.  After  the  presents  were  all 
given  out  they  dodged  away  as  they  came,  in  single  file.  When  they  got  to  the 
water  they  tumbled  in  pell-mell  and  washed  themselves,  which  afforded  us  as 
much  amusement  as  the  dance.  A  train  of  emigrants  arrived  to-night,  and  will 
lay  over  here  to-morrow. 

July  39.— We  had  quite  a  ball  in  the  emigrant  camp  to-night.  The  moon 
shone  bright,  and  the  music  surpassed  anything  that  usually  comes  from 
Arkansas,  and  I  have  no  doubt  if  a  musician  would  go  to  Arkansas  instead 
of  California  he  would  make  his  fortune.  The  ladies  — there  were  only  four 


MITCHELL  MAKES  A  ''CHARGE."  399 

that  would  dance  —  were  specimens  of  the  backwoods,  dressetl  in  half- Bloomer 
costume,  though  the  material  was  calico.  One,  who,  no  doubt,  lived  near 
Paris,  had  some  idea  of  crinoline,  but  as  hoops  are  very  useful  in  keeping 
barrels  together  in  this  country,  it  seems  that  she  could  only  get  one,  and  with 
this  one  she  made  quite  a  display  and  attracted  equally  as  much  attention  as 
Miss  Bloomer  herself.  As  the  other  two  ladies  were  rather  modest  in  their 
deportment,  I  don't  think  a  description  necessary  or  interesting,  as  every  one 
that  danced  seemed  determined  to  enjoy  themselves,  and  everything  went  off 
first  rate.  Even  our  doctor  forgot  the  gravity  of  the  medical  profession  and 
made  some  horrid  grimaces  and  attempts  to  be  f unny.  Old  Uncle  Billy  was 
around  and  danced  a  hornpipe,  after  which  the  ladies  retired  and  the  "  ball " 
was  over. 

Aug.  11.— Quite  an  eventful  day.  The  company,  numbering-  26  fighting  men, 
left  camp  at  6  a.  m.  At  Butte  Station  we  met  Lieut.  Goode  with  the  supply 
train.  After  getting  some  mail  matter  from  him  we  continued  our  journey 
and  arrived  at  Egan  Cafion  about  five  o'clock ;  distance,  42  miles.  At  about 
five  miles  from  the  station  the  pony  express  passed  us,  and  when  we  were 
within  two  miles  of  the  station  we  met  him  coming  back,  and  he  informed  us 
that  there  were  250  Indians  around  the  station,  and  that  they  had  the  keeper 
corraled.  As  soon  as  Lieut.  Weed  came  up  we  took  the  gallop.  On  coming  in 
sight  some  few  of  the  Indians  that  were  warned  took  to  the  hills,  but  the  rest 
resolutely  stood  their  ground.  The  chief  advanced  to  shake  hands,  but  the 
Lieutenant  made  him  lay  down  his  rifle,  as  it  was  his  intention  to  make  him 
prisoner  and  disarm  the  whole  of  them  in  the  same  manner,  but  at  this  moment 
Corp'l  Mitchell  charged  the  Indians  without  orders.  He  was  followed  by 
two  or  three,  leaving  the  rest  of  us  quite  unprepared,  as  we  were  awaiting  the 
orders  of  Lieut.  Weed.  Mitchell  was  shot  in  the  thigh  and  his  horse  wounded. 
Herzog  was  shot  through  the  neck,  and  Conley  was  shot  in  the  left  side,  the 
ball  coming  out  on  the  right.  The  action  became  general  after  Mitchell's 
charge,  and  quite  a  lively  firing  was  kept  up  for  about  an  hour,  the  Indians 
retreating  to  the  hills  and  rocks,  where  four  or  five  of  them  were  killed  at  long 
range.  It  was  useless  to  follow  them,  as  they  could  fire  on  us  with  impunity 
without  running  any  risks  themselves.  One  Indian  was  killed  at  the  station 
and  five  or  six  in  the  rocks.  Several  were  wounded,  as  we  saw  them  carrying 
off  their  bodies.  Two  ponies,  two  rifles,  several  quivers  of  poisoned  arrows, 
some  antelope  and  deer  skins  were  captured.  All  hands  kept  guard  during 
the  night,  but  nothing  occurred  to  disturb  us. 

Aug.— 12.  Nine  men  went  back  to  Ruby  Vallej-  this  morning  with  the 
wounded.  Five  men  went  as  escort  to  the  pony  express  as  far  as  Shell  Creek, 
leaving  nine  of  us  to  keep  the  station.  Yesterday,  when  the  Indians  first  came 
to  the  station,  they  pretended  to  be  f riendlj'  and  demanded  flour.  Some  being 
given  them  they  demanded  more.  Two  sacks  were  then  brought  out,  when 
they  demanded  coffee,  sugar,  meal,  powder  and  lead.  All  the  eatables  that  the 
station  keeper  had  were  given  them,  when  they  threatened  to  take  everything 
he  had,  including  stock.  It  was  at  this  time  that  a  dust  was  seen  on  the  road, 
and  the  Indians  laughed  and  said  it  was  Shoshones  coming  to  help  them,  but 
when  we  came  in  sight  they  commenced  a  jabbering,  and  I  suppose  concluded 
to  act  as  friends.  There  were  four  returned  Californians  here  awaiting  a 
chance  to  get  through,  and  no  doubt  they  would  have  been  killed  with  the  sta 
tion  keeper  but  for  our  opportune  arrival.  It  is  believed  that  it  was  the  whole 
tribe  of  Goshantes  out  on  a  war  hunt.  All  hands  took  turns  on  guard.  Serg't 
Maisak,  who  had  been  down  the  valley  looking  for  grass,  came  back  greatly  ex 
cited  and  reported  an  Indian  camp  in  a  ravine.  Lieut.  Weed  took  Maisak, 
Workman,  West,  Harding  and  myself,  and  away  we  galloped  for  about  seven 
miles.  Arriving  at  the  spot  Maisak,  who  was  on  our  extreme  right,  did  not  recog 
nize  the  place,  but  turned  off  to  the  right  and  left  us.  The  signs  were  evident 
that  a  party  of  Indians  had  recently  left  the  place  and  could  not  be  far  off. 
Accordingly  we  rode  to  the  top  of  the  hill  and  got  sight  of  four  or  five  about 


400  SANTMYER'S  JOURNAL. 

a  mile  off.  "West  suggested  a  charge  directly  after  them,  but  Lieut.  Weed  said 
"no,"  as  he  had  no  idea  of  what  their  number  might  be;  that  it  was  best  to 
head  them  off  and  keep  them  from  getting  to  the  mountains  (toward  Antelope), 
and  about  that  time  the  infantry  would  arrive  and  we  would  have  the  uphill 
of  them.  So  away  we  went  up  hill  and  down  until  we  made  certain  that  we 
were  ahead  of  them.  Seeing  one  of  them  standing  near  a  cedar  we  dismounted 
and  proceeded  down  the  ridge  on  foot,  expecting  to  find  them  in  every  cedar  and 
momently  expecting  a  shot.  There  Lieut.  Weed  and  West  executed  a  drill  on 
the  Zouave  or  artful-dodge  plan.  On  reaching  the  foot  of  the  ridge  imagine 
our  surprise  when  we  heard  the  devils  whooping  behind  us ;  so  we  rode  to  the 
top  of  the  hill  and  bade  them  farewell,  and  took  a  little  satisfaction  out  of  a 
target.  As  soon  as  the  infantry  arrived  we  retraced  our  steps.  A  dog  stand 
ing  close  to  a  cedar  led  us  to  see  what  the  attraction  was,  and  we  found  it  to  be 
a  squaw  and  two  papooses.  Leaving  them  with  the  infantry  we  went  down  to 
the ''  wickey-ups."  Destructiveness  got  the  better  part  of  our  other  organs,  and 
I  pitched  into  the  household  furniture.  Old  buckets  that  never  leaked  could  not 
resist  the  fury  of  my  heel.  Finding  nothing  more  to  oppose  my  matchless 
valor,  and  having  surpassed  some  of  the  feats  performed  by  that  mirror  of 
chivalry,  Don  Quixote,  I  turned  to  see  what  the  rest  were  doing.  Workman 
was  looking  for  skins ;  Harding  was  delighted  at  finding  two  awls  and  a  brass 
spoon;  West  had  his  horse  loaded  down  with  jerked  mule  meat,  while  the 
Lieutenant  was  silently  congratulating  himself  on  the  brilliant  victory  he  had 
gained. 

Aug.  14.— The  captured  squaw  was  very  communicative  after  she  had  a 
few  good  meals.  She  claims  that  the  Goshantes  want  peace ;  that  they  are  very 
much  tired  of  the  warpath,  and  that  if  she  had  her  freedom  she  could  bring  the 
tribe  in  and  they  would  agree  to  be  peaceable  and  sign  papers  to  that  effect. 
After  considerable  talk  between  her  and  the  interpreter  she  agreed  to  go  and 
bring  the  tribe  to-morrow,  but  wanted  to  take  her  papooses,  to  which  Lieut. 
Weed  objected.  He  agreed  to  let  her  go,  but  held  her  papooses  until  she  re 
turned.  Toward  night  she  consented,  and  left  at  sunset  with  grub  enough  to 
do  her  for  two  days. 

Aug.  17. —  After  a  very  troublesome  night  nursing  the  two  papooses  to 
keep  them  quiet,  judge  of  our  surprise  at  daybreak  to  see  the  hill  two  miles 
away  covered  with  Indians,  and  our  squaw  with  one  Indian,  her  husband,  one 
mile  down  the  valley  approaching  the  camp.  On  reaching  the  camp  she  in 
formed  us  that  the  tribe  wanted  to  be  friends,  and  if  we  would  be  friends  they 
would  come  to  camp.  Lieut.  Weed  said  to  her  to  tell  them  to  come  in.  She  gave 
a  signal  and  they  came  on  a  trot.  On  arrival  we  formed  them  in  line,  they 
numbering  106.  They  were  the  hardest-looking  gang  I  have  ever  seen.  They 
were  all  smiles  and  how-deys,  and  seemed  glad  to  shake  hands  and  talk.  They 
were  loud  in  their  praises  of  our  bravery,  saying, "  We  can't  fight  soldiers ;  you 
shoot  too  much  bullet,"  etc.  After  a  paper  was  drawn  to  the  satisfaction  of 
Lieut. Weed,  binding  them  to  prevent  any  interruption  of  travel  through  their 
country,  etc.,  which  the  chief  signed,  they  were  given  flour,  bacon,  coffee 
and  sugar  to  their  satisfaction,  and  were  then  released.  They,  however,  re 
mained  in  camp  until  nearly  dark,  when  they  moved  over  the  mountain,  ap 
parently  happy.  We  counted  24  of  the  Indians  that  had  been  wounded  in  the 
different  affairs  with  us,  and  they  seemed  proud  of  their  wounds. 

[THE  END.] 


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to  Circulation  Desk. 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior 

to  due  date. 

ALL  BOOKS  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  RECALL  7  DAYS 
AFTER  DATE  CHECKED  OUT. 


INTERLIBRARY  LOAN 


JAN  ? 


UNIV.  OF  CALIF.,  BERK. 


REC.  CIR.   JAN  3  075 


INTERLIBRARY  LOAN 


JAN  1  0  1983 


UNIV.  OF  CALIF.,  BERK. 


JUL  2  8  1988 


SEP  1 


SEP  1 *  '90 


LD21— A-40m-5,'74  General  Library 

(R8191L)  University  of  California 

Berkeley 


iBCO 


LD  21-.100m-12,'43  (8796s) 


C.PL 


YC  51287 


M181952 

IE  601 

B83' 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


